Before leaving the White House, President Joe Biden's administration introduced access barriers to artificial intelligence (AI) chips by country category. Countries in the first category can access chips without restrictions. Malaysia, Singapore and Israel are included in the second category where the maximum amount of chip power for data centers will be limited.
According to a Reuters report this morning, President Trump's administration is now considering lifting the barrier that only took effect last January. Access to AI chips will be used as a reward when the United States conducts trade negotiations with other countries. After this, agreements between countries will be made to obtain higher chip quotas.
This can be seen as good news for Malaysia, which is included in the third category of countries. But the next question is whether it will be used as a reason to prevent Malaysia from doing business with the BRICS bloc.
President Trump previously warned that countries that want to replace the use of the US dollar in trade will receive retribution. Any agreement to avoid tariffs will also receive the same fate.