The United States plans to impose comprehensive controls on AI chip exports: NVIDIA and AMD sales may require licensing, causing their stock prices to drop on the news.

Bloomberg reports that the U.S. government is developing a new export control system for AI chips. In the future, global companies wishing to purchase high-end AI chips produced by Nvidia or AMD may need to obtain prior approval from the U.S. government. This move indicates that Washington intends to expand its regulatory authority over global AI computing infrastructure. Following the news, market sentiment turned cautious, with Nvidia and AMD stock prices dropping between 1.9% and 2.3% intraday.

U.S. drafts global AI chip licensing system, Washington becomes “Gatekeeper of Computing Power”

Sources reveal that U.S. officials have drafted new regulations considering requiring companies to obtain U.S. approval before exporting AI accelerators worldwide. If implemented, critical hardware like Nvidia and AMD’s AI GPUs may need licenses for export to any country.

Currently, U.S. chip export restrictions mainly target about 40 countries, but the new proposal would expand oversight globally. These AI chips are core hardware for building large AI models and data centers, including services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, which rely heavily on GPUs in data centers.

The larger the computing scale, the stricter the review; large data centers may require government-level negotiations

The draft indicates that the U.S. government might set different review thresholds based on computing scale. For smaller procurement, such as about 1,000 of Nvidia’s latest GB300 GPUs, review procedures could be simplified or even exempted.

However, for plans to establish larger AI computing centers, companies may need to obtain export licenses in advance and submit additional information, such as disclosing business models or undergoing government review. For ultra-large deployments—such as a single company deploying over 200,000 GPUs in one country—negotiations with the host government and the U.S. may even be required.

( Jensen Huang’s rumored pre-Lunar New Year visit to China, aiming to restart Nvidia’s AI chip market in China )

Draft under discussion, chip tightening policy may become a key U.S. AI strategic tool

Sources indicate that the regulations are still in inter-agency discussion and could undergo significant revisions or be shelved. Nonetheless, this draft is seen as a major strategic move by the Trump administration in AI and semiconductors.

U.S. officials have previously stated their hope for global AI development to revolve around American companies rather than relying on Chinese technology. Through an export licensing system, the U.S. government can more directly influence how other countries build AI data centers and compute infrastructure.

(Anthropic (Claude) accuses DeepSeek and two other Chinese AI firms of bypassing chip controls through distillation)

Market reaction: Nvidia and AMD stock prices decline intraday

Following the news, the market reacted immediately. Nvidia’s stock dropped about 1.9%, and AMD’s fell approximately 2.3%, both hitting intraday lows; Nvidia later recovered some losses, while AMD closed down 1.3%. Investors worry that future AI chip exports requiring government approval could increase sales and revenue uncertainties and impact the efficiency of global AI infrastructure development.

However, sources also say that if the U.S. government’s approval process is smooth and restrictions are not too strict, the impact on global AI investment and data center construction may be limited.

This article titled “U.S. Plans to Fully Regulate AI Chip Exports: Nvidia and AMD Sales May Require Licenses, Stock Prices Drop on News” first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.