US moves to tighten limits on investment in Chinese AI and supercomputing
The US Treasury has proposed new rules on outbound investment. They cover AI, supercomputing, hypersonics and biotechnology in China, Russia, North Korea and other countries.
Archive image · Photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
The US Treasury Department on Thursday proposed a rule to further restrict American investment in high-tech companies in so-called countries of concern, including China, Russia and North Korea. According to the Associated Press, it newly covers hypersonic systems, supercomputing, biotechnology and artificial intelligence – referred to in the draft as “superintelligence”.
The draft implements a law passed by Congress in December 2025 that codified and expanded the existing outbound investment security programme, extending it to Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia. The rules would apply only to investments above 50,000 dollars, and many purely financial investments such as stock purchases are exempt. Depending on the technology, deals must either be notified or are banned outright.
The public can comment before a final rule is issued. Craig Singleton of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank told AP the proposal “sends an important signal to markets”. Lawyer Ryan Majerus of King & Spalding called it “the first step in a fairly long process”.