As a pivotal U.S. regulation nears, tensions between Anthropic and Nvidia have escalated into a public policy dispute. The Biden-era AI Diffusion Rule, set to take effect on May 15, imposes new global limits on advanced chip exports and AI model weights, aiming to curb China's progress in AI. Amid this, Anthropic raised alarms over smuggling methods — including the use of prosthetic baby bumps and lobster shipments to move restricted chips. Nvidia dismissed these claims as exaggerated, accusing Anthropic of using fear-based tactics to lobby for tighter export thresholds.
At stake is access to Nvidia’s compute power — vital for companies like Anthropic. While Anthropic advocates for stricter enforcement and lower export thresholds to Tier 2 nations, Nvidia argues that such restrictions risk undermining U.S. competitiveness.
To complicate matters, reports suggest a more stringent version of the AI Diffusion Rule may be coming under former President Trump, adding further uncertainty to the global AI chip supply chain.