Reported by: WILL KNIGHT

LAST MONTH, THE Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba revealed a powerful new cloud computing system designed for artificial intelligence projects. It is used by Alibaba’s cloud customers to train algorithms for tasks like chatbot dialogue and video analysis, and was built using hundreds of chips from US companies Intel and Nvidia.

Last week, the US announced new export restrictions that will make future projects like that unlikely. The Biden administration’s rules forbid companies from exporting advanced chips needed to train or run the most powerful AI algorithms to China.

The sweeping new controls are designed to keep the country’s AI industry stuck in the dark ages while the US and other Western countries advance. The restrictions also block the export of chipmaking equipment and design software, and ban the world’s leading silicon fabs, including Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung, from manufacturing advanced chips for Chinese companies.

“The United States is saying to China, ‘AI technology is the future; we and our allies are going there—and you can’t come,’” says Gregory Allen, director of the AI governance project at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), a think tank in Washington, DC.

Read full report: https://www.wired.com/story/us-chip-sanctions-kneecap-chinas-tech-industry/amp