Biden’s AI Diffusion Rule, announced in January 2025, and set to come into force on May 15th 2025, was an export control policy placing restrictions on advanced AI chips, cloud access, and model weights.
A key feature was a three-tiered system:
Tier 1 countries (17 close allies + Taiwan) with essentially unrestricted access.
Tier 2 (majority of countries) with new chip export limits. Examples include per-company, per-country quarterly caps and reports on processing power, or firms headquartered in T1 nations or those that severed supply chain ties with T3 countries being eligible to apply for greater access to U.S. chips.
Tier 3 (U.S. arms-embargoed countries such as China and Russia) were effectively blocked.
On May 13th 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) formally rescinded the rule.