Huawei may face another crackdown on its AI chips following stricter US rules. The foreign government has now reportedly readied new guidelines that restrict the usage of Ascend processors “anywhere” around the world, including China.
On May 13, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the US Commerce Department issued new rules on “Huawei AI chips” usage in China and worldwide.
As per these regulations, the US cautioned the technological industry that using Huawei Ascend AI processors without a license is a violation of US export controls.
On the other hand, the BIS warned the public about the ‘potential effect of US AI chipsets being used for training and inference of Chinese AI models. AI model training includes feeding data into models to help them recognize patterns. Meanwhile, inference enables the models to use that training for completing tasks.
These rules can hinder the AI and smartphone chip development for Huawei. The company is striving to achieve its goals in the AI chip field via self-made technologies. But the latest regulations can make the situation unfavorable for the firm.
US imposing stricter rules on Huawei AI chips usage worldwide (Image Credits: Huawei)
BIS has made the “new chip controls” announcement as Biden’s AI chip rules are about to end. The former president’s administration categorized countries in three tiers based on their chipset requirements and security concerns.
According to BIS, the Biden administration’s chip regulations were posing a threat to the country’s relations with its allies in the world. Hence, it made changes.
“… those controls would have impeded American innovation and imposed some burdensome new regulatory requirements on companies. Also, downgrading dozens of countries to tier-2 status could have damaged diplomatic relations.”
The Commerce Department added that it will release an official notice on this matter, formalizing the rescission of the previous rules and issuing a replacement in future.
Huawei has recently unveiled two new Ascend AI chips – 910C and 910D. Both processors are said to be a significant alternative to Nvidia H20. The new AI products created a stressful environment for the US authorities due to security reasons.
After blocking Nvidia H20 chip flow in China, the US is now readying a new set of rules that can further increase challenges for Huawei in the AI chip field. The Commerce Department on Tuesday said:
“We will use a bold, inclusive strategy to American AI technology with trusted foreign countries around the world, while keeping the technology out of the hands of our adversaries.”
[source]
The post US imposing stricter rules on Huawei AI chips usage worldwide appeared first on Huawei Central.
