AsianFin -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday was said to sign a slew of executive orders as part of efforts to promote exports of chips and artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Credit：China Central Television
The White House is preparing for several executive orders to be released next week outlining Trump’s vision for winning the AI race with China, and Trump is expected to speak about his AI “action plan” at that time, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
One of the executive order is expected to promote exports of U.S. chips and AI tools using organizations like the U.S. Export-Import Bank, according to the people. It was reported that the Trump administration treats sending technology to countries friendly with the U.S. as a priority to ensure they run on American AI and not Chinese products.
Another order, targeting tech firms with AI models deemed too “woke”, is said to ask AI companies to get federal contracts be politically neutral and unbiased in their AI models. Accelerating permitting for data centers required to train AI models and speeding up energy production for those data centers is also a focus of the upcoming orders.
The report came as the Trump administration this week eased export control on Nvidia Corporation’s H20 AI chips to China, a shift in strategy which angered China hawks in Washington.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during his trip to China on Tuesday said that the U.S. government has approved Nvidia’s filling for export licenses so that the company can start shipping and selling H20 chips to the Chinese market. In a statement from Nvidia on Tuesday, the California-based company confirmed it would consume H20 chip sales to China. Huang in Beijing also provided an update to customers, noting that Nvidia is filing applications to sell the H20 GPU again.
The statement also confirmed Huang’s meeting with Trump last week. It said Huang promoted AI in both Beijing and Washington D.C., and in the U.S. capital, he met with policymakers including President Donald Trump. Huang in Washington reaffirmed Nvidia’s support for the Trump administration’s effort to create jobs, strengthen domestic AI infrastructure and onshore manufacturing, and ensure that America leads in AI worldwide, according to the statement.
"A wide range of bargaining chips are on the table now for a potential US-China tech grand bargain" including semiconductor manufacturing equipment, rare earths, and AI chips, said Kevin Xu,a tech investor and founder of US-based Interconnected Capital who formerly worked in the Obama administration. Xu called the loosening of export control on H20 chips a possible“sign of things to come.”
