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The U.S. Department of Commerce issued guidance Sunday clarifying that export licenses are required for advanced computing chips sold to entities headquartered in China — or whose parent company is headquartered in China — even when those entities are located outside China.
The Bureau of Industry and Security said the license requirement, first established in November 2023, continues to apply to all destinations outside the United States when the chips are destined for China-headquartered firms or their subsidiaries. "BIS issued guidance clarifying export license requirements that have been in place since 2023," a bureau spokesperson said. "BIS will continue to enforce export controls rigorously to safeguard critical American technology."
At issue is whether Chinese AI companies with operations in countries like Malaysia were able to acquire high-end processors — among them Nvidia $NVDA -1.45%'s Blackwell chips — through their overseas subsidiaries without obtaining the required licenses, according to Reuters. The opening emerged after the Trump administration announced in May 2025 that it would not enforce the AI Diffusion Rule, a Biden-era regulation that had set licensing requirements for global access to AI chips.
