Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday after speaking with senior US administration officials about removing Israel from the list of countries that have been imposed on the import of advanced graphics chips on this, “they are planning to do so,” he said. One month has now passed since the Biden Administration has announced restrictions on the exports of artificial intelligence treatments to 170 countries in the regulations for the spread of artificial intelligence.
Before Netanyahu’s visit, the assumption was that the issue would raise at the meeting with US President Donald Trump, but in the end this issue did not appear in that conversation, but when Netanyahu met the Minister of Commerce Howard Lootnick.
However, while the Israeli government expresses optimism, the American administration flows on cold water on any positive result. The fact that the case was closed in a forum in the Ministry of Commerce and not through direct participation by Trump indicates that the case also involves national security issues.
Moreover, the committee that deals with this in the Ministry of Commerce is the “Industry and Security Committee”, which is the same body that, during the previous administration, also Israeli companies also NSO and Candiru in a black list of countries that require special permission to buy American computer equipment. Sometimes the national security policy expressed in this ministry is dictated by the National Security Adviser or his deputy, as was the case during the Biden administration.
When Trump entered the White House last month, he ignored the controversial matter and only canceled the matter regarding the regulation of speech and privacy restrictions within the United States.
Therefore, it is believed that the United States will not simply remove the restrictions imposed on Israel, but it will require steps on its part in return and may even include removing restrictions as part of a multilateral agreement in the Middle East.
Israel with Saudi Arabia and Singapore
According to the new regulations to restrict export, Israel is placed in the middle category, along with countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Singapore, which are subject to import restrictions of up to 50,000 graphics processors until 2027. Import the processor.
Most Israeli companies and institutions are expected to be exempt from issuing a processor’s import license, as part of the minimum requirements of 1700 processors in order to obtain a license. However, the new restrictions will cool the motives of American technology giants, such as NVIDIA, Amazon, Microsoft and Google, to create data centers in Israel, which are rich in graphics processors. This is because the new restrictions are biased in favor of the exempt countries.
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The new rules are limited to technology giants from the establishment outside the United States. From the time the rules enter into force, technology giants will be asked to leave at least half of their graphics processors inside the United States and not to publish more than 7 % in one country outside it. Government ministries are also concerned that Israeli entrepreneurs will find new companies for Amnesty International as there are no restrictions.
Regardless of NVIDIA, which was affected by the commercial decision, there were almost no voices criticizing the decision, with the exception of Senator Ted Cruz, who wrote, “This important restriction was formulated on the exports of the chips accurately without the involvement of Congress or American companies and reflects their approach (Biden Harris administration) The misleading of artificial intelligence policy and threatens to harm innovation. “
The Ministry of Defense in Israel expressed concern
The Israeli Ministry of Defense also expressed concern. Colonel Edd Dafir, head of the Amnesty International branch of the Ministry of Defense, admitted in the discussions in the Knesset that the Ministry of Defense began preparing for new restrictions to enter into force and accelerate purchases before the new regulations required an explicit explanation of the use of processors.
The proposed American regulations are currently reviewing until May, when it enters into force. According to DVIR, most restrictions will be directed to the defense industries, and therefore Israel “is away from the independence of defense.” The world was also surprised to remove Singapore, an important American ally and a major importer for graphics processors, from exempt countries.
Israel is not the only Western country listed in the list of banned countries: The European Union expressed its protest on behalf of many countries that have not been included in the category of exempt countries, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece and Hungary. Switzerland, not a member of the European Union, has been added to the same medium category registered by the United States. It is believed that what Israel and all of these countries participate is a lack of laws and regulations to reduce technology leakage to the competitors of the United States, including China and Russia.
The agreement that has not been promoted and the Ministry of Finance speaks
Israel has been placed in the intermediate category, and it is believed that, because the regulations are not passed to prevent technology from leaking to China, in a mutual agreement between Israel and the United States (reliable technology), as required since 2021.
The two countries started the process of signing an agreement to mutual technologies in artificial intelligence and quantum computing during the era of former Prime Minister Yair Lapid and former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Orit Farkash-Cohen. A Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) has been signed between the countries in which the two countries will work together to manage the risks of each of the industries, including data security in research, export restrictions and investment control. “
The previous government decreased before signing the agreement, and the current government did not strengthen the issue as a high priority. However, the Ministry of Finance officials are currently holding talks on the required arrangements.
It was published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – on February 12, 2025.
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