'Unilateral bullying': New US-China AI war simmers over Huawei chips

Huawei's Ascend chip is central to China's effort to build its own capacity to build leading edge computer chips

China has slammed the latest rule announced by the Donald Trump administration regarding the usage of Ascend computer chips. These chips that are manufactured by Chinese tech giant Huawei has sparked fresh tensions between Beijing and Washington. In a statement on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian termed the new US rules as ‘unilateral bullying.’

"China firmly opposes this and absolutely does not accept it. China urges the US to drop its protectionist acts and unilateral bullying, and stop its egregious suppression of China's tech businesses and the AI industry," Lin was quoted as saying by the GT report.

Friction emerged between world’s s two biggest economies after the Bureau of Industry and Security under the US Commerce Department released as guidance. As per the new rule, Ascend semiconductors manufactured by Huawei are subject to export controls of the US. The reason stated by the BIS was that the Trump administration believes that these chips are using American technology.

“These chips were likely developed or produced in violation of U.S. export controls,” it said in a statement on its website, adding that “the use of such PRC advanced computing ICs risks violating U.S. export controls and may subject companies to BIS enforcement action.”

Huawei's Ascend chip is central to China's effort to build its own capacity to build leading edge computer chips and other technologies. Analysts say use of the chip in China's DeepSeek artificial intelligence effort reflects a potential challenge for Nvidia in the global AI market.