Sovereignty incidents — hardware, export controls, supply chain
US chip-export posture codification (January – July 2026) [Added v0.7.1]
Claim
On 13 January 2026 the Commerce Department revised the licence-review posture for Nvidia H200- and AMD MI325X-class chips from presumption of denial to case-by-case review. In June 2026 BIS affirmed that its licensing requirements for advanced AI chips reach subsidiaries of Chinese-headquartered companies located outside China. In July 2026 Commerce said it would grant Nvidia export licences for the H20. Reported uptake has lagged policy: as of mid-May 2026, no H200 chips had shipped to the Chinese companies approved to buy them.
Sources
- Mayer Brown, “Administration Policies on Advanced AI Chips Codified,” January 2026 ↗
- Al Jazeera, “US says ban on AI chip shipments applies to Chinese firms outside China,” 1 June 2026 ↗
- Brookings, “Ball game’s over — the US is out of the AI chip market in China” ↗
Referenced in
- Framework §3.1 (Hardware row)
- Part V
- AI-SAF-N Hardware pillar and rule-stability modifier
- State of Play §3.