US to take chips fight to AI level

The United States is considering unilateral curbs on China's access to artificial intelligence memory chips and equipment capable of making those semiconductors as soon as next month, a move that would further escalate the tech rivalry between them.

The measure is designed to keep Micron Technology and South Korea's leading memory chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics from supplying Chinese firms with so-called high-bandwidth memory chips, according to insiders.

The three firms dominate the global HBM market.

The Biden administration is working on several restrictions aimed at keeping vital technology out of the hands of Chinese manufacturers, including limits on sales of chipmaking equipment. This rule would deliver a new set of constraints against memory chips for AI, the latest arena of US-China competition.

If enacted, the measure would capture HBM2 and more advanced chips including HBM3 and HBM3E, the most cutting-edge AI memory chips being produced right now, as well as the tools required to make them.

HBM chips are required to run AI accelerators like those offered by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.