U.S. BIS Advanced Computing & SME Export Controls (Oct 2022)

The original U.S. BIS advanced-computing rule, effective October 12, 2022, set performance thresholds on AI chips and restricted their export to China without a license. It also imposed comprehensive restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) destined for Chinese fabs producing sub-16nm logic, sub-18nm DRAM, or 128-layer NAND. The rule marked the first time the U.S. explicitly used export controls to constrain China's capacity to produce advanced semiconductors, rather than merely restricting imports of finished chips.