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US scraps AI Diffusion Rule and warns against using Huawei Ascend chips
Two days before it was due to apply, the Commerce Department's BIS said it would not enforce and would formally rescind the January 2025 AI Diffusion Rule, which had sorted countries into tiers with caps on advanced-chip imports. The same day it issued guidance that using Huawei Ascend chips anywhere may violate US export controls, plus warnings on diversion and on US chips being used to train Chinese models; the promised replacement rule had not been published as of October 2026.
Why it matters
It replaced a single global framework for AI-chip exports with country-by-country deals, which is why Gulf and China access since then has been negotiated case by case.
Line of Thought
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Directly linked
Connections our researchers recorded
- DevelopmentUS moves UAE into top export tier, opening licence-free AI chips to approved users10 Jul 2026 · Rule change · US, AEPut into practice by: Country-specific approach that replaced the tiered diffusion rule
- DevelopmentUS opens case-by-case H200 licences for China and adds 25% tariff on such chips15 Jan 2026 · Rule change · US, CNLed to: Another deal-based change to the chip export regime
- DevelopmentHuawei sets yearly Ascend AI-chip roadmap and 8,192-chip Atlas 950 SuperPoD18 Sep 2025 · Launch · CNPrompted: BIS had warned that using Ascend chips anywhere risks breaching US controls
What led here
Earlier developments on the same thread
- DevelopmentDeepSeek releases R1 reasoning model with open weights under MIT licence20 Jan 2025 · Model release · CN
What happened next
Later developments on the same thread
- DevelopmentChina's internet regulator summons NVIDIA over alleged security risks in H20 chips31 Jul 2025 · Enforcement or ruling · CN, US
- DevelopmentChina adds extraterritorial rare-earth export controls, then pauses them to Nov 20269 Oct 2025 · Rule change · CN, US
- DevelopmentUS charges Supermicro co-founder over alleged $2.5bn Nvidia-server diversion to China19 Mar 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · US, CN
- DevelopmentUS export-control order forces global shutdown of Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 512 Jun 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · US
Rules in play
Laws and guidance this touches
- RuleBIS H200 case-by-case ruleUS · In force · 15 Jan 2026
Threads by topic: Export controls Chips National security