The Biden administration’s reversal of the export ban on high-performance AI accelerators now allows AMD’s H200 series to be sold to Chinese customers, a shift that has reignited national security debates. Critics, including Anthropic’s CEO, liken the move to providing adversaries with next-generation weaponry, warning that unrestricted access to these chips could erode America’s multi-year lead in semiconductor manufacturing. The decision follows a review of export controls that will permit shipments of devices capable of teraflop-scale matrix processing, the backbone of modern generative AI workloads.

Advanced Micro Devices bolstered its corporate governance this week by appointing KC McClure, former chief financial officer of Accenture, to its board of directors. McClure’s expertise in large-scale technology deployments and global finance comes as investors prepare for AMD’s quarterly results on February 2. Analysts expect the chipmaker to report sequential revenue growth in its compute and graphics segment, driven by server CPU shipments to cloud providers and early deployments of the company’s latest MI450 accelerators in enterprise data centers.

AMD’s push into high-performance computing garnered a landmark deal in mid-January, when Riot Platforms committed to a 10-year, $311 million agreement for the deployment of AMD MI455X GPU accelerators in its next-generation mining facilities. This contract not only validates AMD’s ability to compete beyond its traditional desktop and gaming markets but also underscores growing demand for its GPUs as an alternative to incumbent solutions. Meanwhile, market research indicates that AMD’s server-class CPU shipments grew by more than 20% year-over-year in the most recent quarter, as hyperscale operators diversify their chip suppliers to avoid single-vendor concentration.