Commerce withdraws AI‑chip rule
The U.S. Commerce Department quietly withdrew a proposed ‘AI Action Plan Implementation’ rule that would have tightened AI‑chip exports — removed from inter‑agency review with no public explanation. That pause comes as a new report ranked the U.S. top in global AI readiness (82/100), while other reporting says Chinese tech firms may be using overseas subsidiaries and indirect routes to access advanced Nvidia hardware despite controls reported — a mix that raises fresh questions about enforcement and U.S. tech competitiveness.
The draft, titled "AI Action Plan Implementation," was posted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Feb. 26, 2026. money.usnews.com Reported language in the circulating draft would have conditioned approval for large AI‑accelerator shipments on foreign investment in U.S. data centers or formal security guarantees. economictimes.indiatimes.com Reporting says the measure was presented as a successor to a January 2025 Biden‑era rule on global access to advanced AI chips, placing it squarely in the administration’s broader AI Action Plan timeline. money.usnews.com On the enforcement front, two Shenzhen repair firms told investigators they service as many as 500 restricted H100‑class GPUs per month, while a policy analysis estimated a median of roughly 140,000 illicit H100‑class chips in circulation as of December 2024. benzinga.com Multiple outlets documented concrete circumvention paths — Chinese hyperscalers moving model training abroad and firms routing purchases through overseas subsidiaries — with Reuters and the Financial Times reporting on overseas workloads and proxy purchases. money.usnews.com A U.S. official told reporters the proposal "remains a draft," and Bloomberg reported Commerce and the Bureau of Industry and Security are continuing to develop alternative export measures as of mid‑March 2026. money.usnews.com
