Nvidia\u2019s efforts to suck up to the Trump administration have seemingly paid off, with the US now lifting export limits on US-made AI chips and cracking down on anyone using Huawei\u2019s emerging alternatives. The announcements come as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined President Trump in Saudi Arabia this week to solicit AI investments for US companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese new requirements would have stifled American innovation and saddled companies with burdensome new regulatory requirements,\u201d The DOC said in a statement. \u201cThe AI Diffusion Rule also would have undermined US diplomatic relations with dozens of countries by downgrading them to second-tier status.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the goal was to prevent countries already subject to chip restrictions, such as Russia and China, from accessing or building AI tech, it also placed Nvidia\u2019s estimated 90 percent share of the AI chip market in jeopardy. Shortly after the Diffusion Rule was introduced by former President Joe Biden in January, Nvidia issued a statement<\/a> calling it \u201cmisguided,\u201d while anticipating a return to Trump\u2019s first term policies \u201cthat strengthen American leadership, bolster our economy and preserve our competitive edge in AI and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n The DOC also warned companies that using Huawei\u2019s Ascend AI chipset \u201canywhere in the world\u201d would violate US export control agreements. Huawei\u2019s home-grown Ascend processors are seen as China\u2019s best answer<\/a> to Nvidia\u2019s powerful AI chips. <\/p>\n Nvidia\u2019s Huang was notably one of the only US tech leaders to not attend Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration<\/a>. His absence doesn\u2019t appear to have soured the relationship between them, however, with Huang spotted cosying up to Trump at a US-Saudi investment summit in Riyadh on Tuesday, alongside other tech leaders like Elon Musk, AMD\u2019s Lisa Su, OpenAI\u2019s Sam Altman, and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.<\/p>\n