NVIDIA, Anthropic Clash Over Chip Export Controls: Report

Anthropic, the AI startup that develops the Claude family of models, suggested reccomendations in a blog post on Wednesday to the United States government to strengthen controls on chip exports. 

Nonetheless, NVIDIA, the leading developer of AI chips and hardware, has firmly opposed Anthropic’s statements, according to CNBC. 

In the blog post, Anthropic outlined several recommendations for the U.S. Department of Commerce, arguing that enhanced export controls could strengthen a technological edge considered vital for the U.S. to compete with China. 

Anthropic recommends adjusting chip access tiers for countries, lowering no-license purchase limits to curb smuggling, and increasing funding, and resources for export control enforcement to enhance effectiveness. 

For instance, Anthropic has suggested decreasing the GPU export limit NVIDIA can make to certain nations without government authorisation, expressing concerns about potential smuggling. 

However, an NVIDIA spokesperson told CNBC that “American firms should focus on innovation and rise to the challenge, rather than tell tall tales that large, heavy, and sensitive electronics are somehow smuggled in ‘baby bumps’ or ‘alongside live lobsters.” 

The spokesperson also added that the U.S. cannot be successful in the AI race by manipulating regulators, stating that China is home to ‘half of the world’s AI researchers’ and has ‘highly capable’ experts in every aspect of the AI stack. 

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang also resonates with the sentiment, and recently said that China is not behind the U.S in the AI race. 

The above argument revolves around a rule implemented by former U.S. President Joe Biden in January – which comes into effect on May 15, 2025. 

It is called ‘The Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion’, which categorises nations into three levels according to the security threats they pose to the U.S. These categories dictate the application of export controls. 

The first tier, including 17 countries and Taiwan, can get unlimited AI chips. Around 120 countries fall into the second tier, where chip access is limited. Exports are prohibited to the third group, consisting of countries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

​​Companies can import up to 1,700 GPUs, valued at around $40-50 million, without needing a licence, to countries classified in the ‘Tier 2’ bracket. However, larger imports, worth up to $1 billion, will require a licence review. 

Recently, Reuters reported that the current Trump administration is planning to remove the tier system to control exports. This could be replaced with a ‘global licensing regime with government-government agreements’, as per the sources cited by Reuters. The report also adds that the threshold of 1,700 NVIDIA GPUs could also be lowered to 500.