Recent public tender documents reveal that Chinese entities, some linked to the state, are using cloud services from Amazon and its competitors to gain access to advanced U.S. chips and AI capabilities that are otherwise restricted. This strategic move allows these entities to bypass U.S. export regulations that limit the direct acquisition of high-end AI chips, highlighting a loophole in the current restrictions.

Despite the U.S. government’s stringent controls on the export of advanced AI chips to China, these regulations do not cover access through cloud services. A Reuters review of over 50 tender documents from the past year found that at least 11 Chinese entities sought access to restricted U.S. technologies via cloud services. Among these, four specifically mentioned Amazon Web Services (AWS), although they accessed the services indirectly through Chinese intermediaries.

“AWS complies with all applicable U.S. laws, including trade laws, regarding the provision of AWS services inside and outside of China,” an AWS spokesperson stated. AWS, a dominant player in the global cloud infrastructure market, has seen growing demand from Chinese organizations seeking advanced computing power and AI models. For example, Shenzhen University spent approximately 200,000 yuan on AWS cloud servers powered by Nvidia’s A100 and H100 chips—chips that are banned for export to China.

The U.S. government is increasingly concerned about this workaround. Michael McCaul, chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed his frustration, stating, “This loophole has been a concern of mine for years, and we are long overdue to address it.” Legislation is under consideration to regulate remote access to U.S. technology, though it remains unclear when it will be enacted.

Some Chinese entities also sought access to cloud services from other U.S. providers, such as Microsoft. Sichuan University, for example, planned to purchase 40 million Microsoft Azure OpenAI tokens for a generative AI project, though it is unclear if the transaction was completed.

In response to inquiries, AWS has made adjustments to its Chinese-language posts, indicating that some services are not available in its China cloud regions. This includes access to advanced AI models like Anthropic’s Claude, which AWS promoted in the past. Anthropic, like other U.S. tech firms, has policies that prevent its models from being accessed in China.

As the U.S. government works to close these regulatory gaps, the actions of Chinese entities underscore the challenges in controlling access to advanced technologies in an increasingly interconnected world.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)

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