The Trump administration’s attempt to stop the import of Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) and Chinese restrictions on the export of frontier models are developments of great significance to the global digital landscape. Instead of an open and collaborative development of technologies for all of humanity, there is a new form of competition among countries to prevent others from accessing critical technologies to use against them. AI, once hailed as the future of humanity and a technological development to benefit everyone, is now viewed increasingly as a weapon of mass disruption that can be used to outcompete other countries.
The United States’ Executive Order also makes for a very interesting read. For the first time, the AI models developed by Chinese companies like DeepSeek, Qwen and GLM are characterised by the White House as nothing but systems for IP theft, propaganda and data mining. On the other hand, the United States also expanded its existing sanctions regarding the export of advanced semiconductors. This includes chips made by leading graphics card manufacturer Nvidia, such as the A100 and the newly released H100. These components are essential for the training of the so-called frontier models of AI. By banning their export, China’s ability to develop its own frontier models is severely curtailed. Chinese AI is therefore no longer welcome in the Western world. This also applies to all other countries, which are now also being implicated in strategic IP theft by working with Chinese AI.
China’s strategy mirrors the U.S. approach, with both countries operating in a spirit of strategic calculation. The restrictions placed by Beijing on the export of frontier models, including the Qwen2.5, DeepSeek V5, and GLM-6, all indicate that the country’s most advanced AI systems will be kept within its borders. Under a tiered system of regulation, the most basic models will be permitted for export, but those considered to be at the frontier of the field will be subject to a stringent security review before they are cleared for transfer abroad. As the United States attempts to starve China of semiconductors in a bid to strangle its AI ambitions, Beijing is working hard to achieve semiconductor independence to secure the future of its own AI systems.
The restrictions imposed by the two superpowers have, in the meantime, evolved into a restriction of imports and exports of frontier models. The global supply chain for AI of all kinds has become more restricted. The two major players in the world are cutting off the global supply of frontier AI models and, in this way, are in fact putting an end to cross-pollination of AI research between all nations. This will stifle innovation as it will lead to an overabundance of duplicate efforts, and the restriction of supply chains worldwide will furthermore have a negative effect on the efficiency of the global economy. Many countries are now forced into choosing a side between the Washington and the Beijing bloc and will become technologically dependent in the long run. Furthermore, they will no longer have a say in the worldwide standardisation of technology and in the corresponding and far-reaching rules that will be decreed by Washington and/or Beijing.