Taiwan Criminalizes AI Chip Exports to China in US Trade Deal — SkimNews
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- Taiwan will add AI servers and cutting-edge semiconductors to its controlled export list and make shipping restricted AI hardware to China a criminal offense under the Foreign Trade Act, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin told Bloomberg on Oct. 12.
- The measures align with US restrictions under the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade signed by Washington and Taipei in 2026, giving Taiwan its first direct legal tool to prosecute AI chip smuggling rather than relying on other existing local laws.
- Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices AI accelerators have long been restricted for sale to China by the US, but US officials allege billions of dollars' worth of Nvidia hardware has still reached China through a sophisticated black market.
- President Lai Ching-te's administration is positioning the controls as among its strictest safeguards for Taiwan's technological and national security interests, as Taipei weighs more assertive policies under pressure from Washington.
- Separately, Taiwan plans to raise billions of dollars to develop industrial parks in the US, building a domestic supply chain for Nvidia and other AI hardware makers as part of the same trade alignment.
Why it matters: Taiwan gains its first criminal liability tool against AI chip smuggling to China, closing a gap where its courts could previously only prosecute using tangential local statutes. For Nvidia and AMD, tighter Taiwanese enforcement targets black market channels that have delivered billions in restricted hardware to Chinese buyers despite longstanding US export bans.
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