Microsoft Urges Trump Team To Relax Chip Export Curbs
Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith is urging the Trump administration to rethink new regulations that would cap the export of artificial intelligence chips to “strategically vital markets” including Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Introduced by the Biden administration, the so-called AI diffusion rule puts several nations in the second tier of a three-tier category that curbs the export of chips used in data centers to train AI models. Smith said the policy could prompt those countries to turn to China for advanced chips.
“Left unchanged, the Biden rule will give China a strategic advantage in spreading over time its own AI technology, echoing its rapid ascent in 5G telecommunications a decade ago,” Smith wrote in a corporate blog post on Thursday.
President Donald Trump and his team have been drawing up tougher versions of US semiconductor curbs and pressuring key allies to escalate their restrictions on China's chip industry — a sign that the White House is keen to expand on Biden-era efforts to limit Beijing's technological prowess.
Trump also on Thursday announced an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports.
The AI diffusion rule, imposed during President Joe Biden's final week in office, divided the world into three tiers of countries and set maximum thresholds for the AI computing power that can be shipped to each. It also established mechanisms for companies to validate the security of their projects and access higher compute limits.
The rule, which will have an impact on data center development everywhere from Southeast Asia to the Middle East, drew harsh rebuke from companies including Nvidia Corp., the world's leading maker of advanced AI chips. Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang expressed optimism that the Trump administration would opt for a lighter regulatory touch.
Microsoft runs or is building data centers in several countries subject to caps on chips exports, including the UAE, where the US tech giant is developing AI data centers in partnership with G42.
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High US Salaries, No Green Card Certainty: The Financial Calculation Facing Indian H-1B Families
The suspension of PERM processing at eight technology employers does not cancel existing H-1B visas. What it does is force a question many Indian families have been avoiding: is the US salary worth tying your career and family plans to one employer?
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Swiggy vs Eternal: Food Delivery's Two Rivals Are No Longer In The Same Race
Eternal is building a private AI assistant, dark.ai. Swiggy is still working out how to make Instamart pay, with an operating loss of Rs 895 crore in the July-September quarter while Blinkit stayed profitable.
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Where You Live Shapes How You Get To Work | The Reason Why
Two-wheelers are the most popular way to get to work in India, accounting for nearly 43% of workplace commutes.
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Unhedged Position: Can India See An Indonesia-Style Time Correction?
The Nifty is trading below levels it first clocked in 2024. Is there, then, as I have suggested in the headline, potential that the current time correction drags on painfully for the next three-five, even ten years?
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Navigating Friction And Energy Realities: An Analysis Of Marco Rubio's October Visit To India
Occurring at a critical juncture marked by stalled trade negotiations and escalating geopolitical pressures over global energy supplies, the visit offers a profound window into modern US-India relations.
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India Exports Capital. Why Not Export Trusteeship?
The big question, then, is whether India can build an institution that global borrowers, investors, banks, and lawyers can trust, even without an Indian connection.
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France's Economy & Politics Are In Crisis | The Reason Why
Let's look at how the French economy and politics evolved under Nicolas Sarkozy, Franois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron.
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You May Inherit The Business. You Must Earn Its Credibility.
Succession tests the founder's ability to share authority as much as it tests the next generation's readiness to assume it.
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Signing Deals Is One Thing; Making Them Work Is Another | The Week In Whys
Sometimes, things don't turn out as planned. Indian companies have lost some bids to rivals, some projects won't produce until 2030.
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FOMC Wall, PERM Suspension, Hospital Stocks | Talking Points This Week
A PERM suspension would directly affect green-card sponsorship rather than H-1B visas, so the near-term earnings impact could remain relatively limited. The key question is whether this marks a new phase in US scrutiny of Indian IT.
