After preventing the sale of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to more than 40 countries such as China, the United States now reportedly wants to control its sales to Middle Eastern countries as well. According to a Bloomberg report, President Biden's administration wants to control the sale of high-tech chips in order to maintain national security.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia are two Middle Eastern countries that have been actively developing their AI infrastructure over the past year. With almost unlimited funds, both countries want to develop their own AI without relying on foreign AI. This is seen as a threat to the United States in the long term.
At the same time there were reports that scientists employed in the Middle East were Chinese nationals who were forced to emigrate due to restrictions on the sale of AI chips imposed by the United States. There are concerns this will give China access to blocked technology.
Through the barriers already imposed on China, not only the latest AI chips released by NVIDIA and AMD can no longer be sold but machines produced by the Netherlands and Japan are also blocked. Existing machines will not be supported to prevent them from being modified to produce chips with more recent technology.