Malaysia tightens export controls on US AI chips as Nvidia’s Jensen Huang heads to China
It’s part of a US campaign to keep powerful processors out of the hands of its top geopolitical rival.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry is now requiring permits for any exports of AI chips of US origin.
The statement doesn’t reference China by name, but this is all about a continued pressure campaign by the US to keep powerful processors out of the hands of its top geopolitical rival. This comes after reports last week suggesting the Trump administration would move more aggressively toward curbing China’s access to AI chips by cracking down on any disguised transshipments from the likes of Malaysia and Thailand. However, it should be noted that this issue was not directly raised in the tariff letters President Trump sent to either nation.
On a related note, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is in China this week and scheduled to hold a media briefing in Beijing on July 16.
Nvidia’s inability to sell AI chips to China (following the ban on H20 chip sales) has become a much-bemoaned subject for the company, which referenced the world’s second-largest economy 27 times during its most recent earnings call, more than the previous four quarters combined.
In an interview with Fareed Zakaria that aired this weekend, Huang was asked about the potential for China to use Nvidia’s chips to bolster its military prowess.
“We don’t have to worry about it,” he said. “They simply can’t rely on it. It could be, of course, limited at any time.”
