US chip export limits add tension with Poland and EU concerns
The United States has added Poland to the list of countries subject to restrictions on importing modern chips from the country. The Polish embassy has asked the US administration for explanations, said Deputy Minister of Digitization Dariusz Standerski.
On Monday, the US Department of Commerce published a decision aimed at limiting the export of American AI chips to selected countries. Although exceptions have been made for strategic allies, several EU member states are expected to be subject to restrictions.
The US announced the decision. Poland responds
New semiconductor technologies, crucial for the development of artificial intelligence, are becoming more difficult for Poland to access. Our country has been placed in the "basket" of countries that have a limit on importing modern technologies from the USA.
When asked about this decision, Standerski said that it shows that "the European Union is having a discussion about digital sovereignty twenty years too late."
This causes us to be categorized by other countries in a way that should not have happened - he assessed.
- While this so-called limit established by the American administration will not halt artificial intelligence in Poland this year and next, in the long term it poses a problem of arbitrariness of decisions made by the American administration, disconnected from all trade principles - he said.
He conveyed that the Polish embassy has asked the US administration for explanations in this matter. He also noted that the European Commission protested against such a solution.
- For us, the main takeaway should be to implement the act on semiconductors. Therefore, the Ministry of Digitization is developing a semiconductor policy aimed at attracting investors to Poland not only from the United States, so that these chips are at least tested and packaged in Poland - he informed.
European Commission concerned
The European Commission has expressed concern about the measures adopted by the US authorities, which restrict access for selected EU member states and their companies to advanced American artificial intelligence chips.
A joint statement on this issue was issued by EC Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.
"We believe that it is also in the economic and security interest of the USA that the EU buys advanced AI systems from the USA without restrictions: we work closely together, particularly in the field of security, and represent an economic opportunity for the USA, not a security threat," they wrote.
