The U.S. today introduced new rules that will restrict the sale of chips and chip production equipment to China.

Some of the rules will go into effect today, Protocol reported. Others will be rolled out over the coming weeks.

The first set of rules announced today focuses on limiting chip exports to China. A new foreign direct product rule will block companies from supplying customers in China with chips that are used for “advanced computing and artificial intelligence applications,” Protocol reported. The rule can reportedly apply not only to products from U.S. companies but also to chips that foreign firms produce using U.S. technology.

Another new foreign direct product rule will apply to components and chips destined for supercomputers. The rule, along with the restrictions on chips for AI and advanced computing applications, is set to go into effect on Oct. 21. 

Previously, the U.S. government in August notified Nvidia Corp. of new export restrictions that apply to some of the company’s data center AI chips. The restrictions prohibit Nvidia from selling its A100 and H100 graphics cards to customers in China. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. was notified of similar export restrictions around the same time.

The export rules that were announced today cover not only chips but also semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Additionally, certain components that can be used to make semiconductor manufacturing equipment are affected as well.

The U.S. will block companies from supplying customers in China with tools that can be used to make FinFET chips. FinFET is a type of widely used transistor design that is implemented in many of the most advanced central processing units on the market. It’s also used in other types of chips, such as graphics cards.

Memory manufacturing equipment is another focus of the new export restrictions. 

The restrictions apply to equipment that can be used to make flash chips with 128 or more layers of memory cells. Memory cells are the circuits that a flash chip uses to store data. The most advanced flash chips on the market, which are made by Micron Technology Inc., have 232 layers. 

The restrictions also cover tools that make it possible to manufacture DRAM chips with a half-pitch of 18 nanometers or less. A DRAM chip’s half-pitch is a metric used to track the sophistication of its circuits. The smaller the half-pitch, the more advanced the circuits.

The new export rules were announced today alongside several other restrictions focused on chip technology. 

The U.S. will prohibit U.S. citizens, permanent residents and companies from servicing and maintaining chip production equipment to which the export restrictions apply. The Commerce Department will add 31 companies in China to its unverified list, which tracks organizations that may pass sensitive technology to organizations under export restrictions. The department is also expanding the existing export restrictions that apply to 28 companies on its Entity List.

The chip industry reportedly has 60 days to submit feedback about the rules. Officials will review suggestions and potentially modify the rules where necessary.

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