The Bureau of Industry and Security announced another set of changes to its semiconductor-related export controls Jan. 15, creating new lists of trusted chip designers and service providers, introducing new reporting requirements for certain higher-risk customers and making a host of other revisions, clarifications and updates to its existing restrictions, including its latest advanced AI chip controls released earlier this week.

Philip Luck is leaving his role as the State Department’s deputy chief economist to become the new Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the think tank announced this week. Luck will focus on “issues at the intersection of economics and national security planning,” CSIS said, including U.S. technology competition and supply chain resilience. He will replace outgoing chair Bill Reinsch, a former Bureau of Industry and Security official during the Bill Clinton administration, who will continue to do research at CSIS.

The EU is “concerned” about the Bureau of Industry and Security's new export controls on advanced AI chips (see 2501130026), which will impose new restrictions on certain EU member states and their companies, the bloc’s top two technology and trade officials said in a joint statement this week.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is planning to release two new rules Jan. 15, Undersecretary Alan Estevez said during a Jan. 14 event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “One will be related to biotech,” and the other is “related to compliance around semiconductors,” Estevez said. He didn't give further details. A BIS spokesperson said the agency has "nothing else to add beyond Estevez’s remarks."

Outgoing Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said he would advise his successor to continue coordinating export controls with allies and to not immediately turn to extraterritorial restrictions, such as the foreign direct product rule.

The Bureau of Industry and Security released four new rules Jan. 15, including one that will make more changes to its semiconductor-related export controls -- including by creating a new list of trusted chip designers and service providers -- another rule that will place new controls on certain biotechnology equipment and technology, and two rules that will add companies to the Entity List.

A new Bureau of Industry and Security rule that will place new, worldwide export controls on advanced computing chips and certain closed artificial intelligence model weights was widely panned by the American semiconductor and technology industry this week, even as U.S. officials said the restrictions are necessary to keep American companies ahead of their Chinese competitors.

The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the Commerce Department Jan. 9 to update its regulations to require U.S. biopharmaceutical entities to obtain an export license before working with a Chinese military hospital for clinical trials.

A new Bureau of Industry and Security rule released Jan. 13 will place new, worldwide export controls on advanced computing chips and certain closed artificial intelligence model weights, capping the number of AI chips that can be sent to most countries while introducing an exception for a group of allies that the Biden administration said already have strong AI technology protection rules. The 168-page interim final rule also creates new license exceptions for certain supply chain activities and low-volume shipments of powerful chips -- except for China, Russia and other U.S.-embargoed countries -- and updates the agency’s validated end-user program (VEU) to lift certain licensing requirements for certain data centers that meet stringent new security conditions.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has completed a round of interagency review for a new interim final rule that’s expected to place new export controls on advanced AI-related chips. The rule, “Export Control Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion,” was sent for interagency review Dec. 9 and the review was completed Jan. 7. The upcoming restrictions have received criticism from at least one major technology company and two industry groups for being overbroad (see 2501060015 and 2501080034).