The US government has implemented new export restrictions on AI technology, creating a three-tiered system of countries with varying access to AI chips. Tier 1 countries, including the US and its allies, have the most access, while Tier 3 countries, including China, face strict limitations. Tier 2 countries fall in between with access based on specific rules. These restrictions also introduce a Validated End User (VEU) framework, which allows certain entities, mainly US hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, to import AI chips into Tier 2 countries under specific conditions. The regulations also control AI models, with restrictions on training frontier models outside Tier 1 countries and limitations on exporting model weights. The goal is to limit China’s access to AI compute while maintaining US dominance in the AI sector. These regulations will impact the global AI and datacenter landscape.
