Global Trade & Foreign Policy Insights

On September 11, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would require quarterly reporting by organizations, companies, and corporations organized in the U.S. (including branches outside the U.S.) if they plan to either engage in artificial intelligence model training or acquire, develop, or otherwise possess a high-performance computing cluster for AI training. 

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) recently announced a two-day hybrid conference later this month on brain-computer interface (“BCI”) technology.

With the ink barely dry on the October 7, 2022 Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) advanced semiconductors and supercomputing interim final rule (the “Semiconductor IFR”), the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) continues to pull multiple levers in a bid to fundamentally change the trajectory of global advanced semiconductors manufacturing in the United States’ (“U.S.”) favor.

Over are the days of carefree selling to and offshoring supply chains through China for leading-edge semiconductors and the technologies and equipment used to produce them. On October 7, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce”) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced surgically precise and novel export controls targeting China’s[1] semiconductor and advanced computing industries. According to the BIS Press Release, the new controls will restrict China’s ability “to produce advanced military systems including weapons of mass destruction; improve the speed and accuracy of its military decision making, planning, and logistics, as well as of its autonomous military systems; and commit human rights abuses.”

Commerce shared that it would conduct “robust stakeholder engagement in implementing the CHIPS program, including requesting feedback on specific questions through RFIs, publishing an e-mail newsletter and frequently asked questions, and offering webinars.” The first set of these webinars was announced last Friday, September 16, via Commerce Communications’ email newsletter.

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security released an Interim Final Rule on September 9, 2022 changing the Export Administration Regulations’ regulation of information-sharing in international standards settings organizations.

On the heels of President Biden signing into law the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the Department of Commerce recently launched a new website at CHIPS.gov to publish information relating to the CHIPS Act.

President Biden recently signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which, among other things, provides billions of dollars of federal financial assistance to semiconductor companies to construct, expand, and modernize semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the United States.