The White House has "adjusted": shares of Nvidia, Oracle, AMD dive - what happened?

The White House announces new restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips to only 18 key allies and partners. These restrictions are designed to prevent foreign competitors from accessing advanced American computer chips and machine learning designs. However, the new rules are particularly opposed by industry, whose leaders say the export regulations could reduce the market by as much as 80%.

Concerns also about possible interest rate cuts

Companies such as Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Oracle will be negatively affected by the new export restrictions.

Already, Nvidia's shares have fallen by 3%, Oracle by 5.06% and AMD by 4.76%. 

The market as a whole is also weakening due to concerns about how much the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year.

Under the so-called interim final rule on the dissemination of AI, most countries will be subject to chip order caps.

The White House said the limits will not apply to 18 key allies and partners, and countries and entities that meet high standards of security and trust can apply for higher status.

Countries that do not will be able to purchase the equivalent of 50 000 advanced GPUs per country.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the White House had taken the extraordinary step of giving the incoming administration a 120-day deadline to comment.

She said US industry will have a year to adapt to the new rules.

"The US is currently leading the world in artificial intelligence, both in the development of artificial intelligence and in the development of artificial intelligence chips. It is very important that this continues," said Mr Raimondo. 

An industry turned upside down

Meanwhile, the Semiconductor Industry Association, which includes Nvidia and AMD, said it was very concerned about the new rules. 

They said the White House rules were drafted without input from industry and could severely undermine US leadership and competitiveness.

"Ken Glueck, Executive Vice President of Oracle, said that the rules would reduce the global chip market for US companies by 80%.

"Let's be clear. These rules will turn the US cloud industry upside down," he said.

"Ned Finkle, vice-president of government affairs at Nvidia, called the new restrictions a misguided attempt to control the development of artificial intelligence innovation around the world "under the guise of an anti-China move".