AMD reportedly hits U.S. regulatory roadblock for China-tailored chip

American semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices has failed in getting a made-for-China AI chip past U.S. regulators and will need to apply for an export license, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The report said AMD designed the chip to have lower performance than its premium products in order to comply with U.S. export restrictions. But Bloomberg reported the Commerce Department did not clear the chip for sale in China because it was still too advanced.

AMD will now have to obtain a license from the department's Bureau of Industry and Security, the report said.

It's not clear if the company will apply for the license. AMD and the Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.

While the U.S. has restricted sales of products containing the nation's most advanced semiconductor technologies to China, citing national security concerns, American companies have continued to sell mature or less advanced technologies to the massive market without licenses.

AMD's products include chips that can be used to develop and train AI models - something U.S. officials have warned that Beijing could use to gain military advantages. 

In 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration unveiled an initial set of export controls to curb China's access to advanced semiconductor technologies. Leading AI chip company Nvidia subsequently said it would sell slowed-down versions of their premium AI chips that comply with U.S. restrictions. 

However, those chips were also banned in October, when the U.S. expanded restrictions to include more technology and target chips that were seen as circumventing controls.

Nvidia has since redesigned products to be less powerful for the Chinese market to align with