THE US government’s move to further restrict advanced chips such as Nvidia’s Blackwell processors from being acquired by subsidiaries of Chinese businesses operating overseas will have implications for South-East Asia, where countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are vying to be the region’s data centre (DC) hubs.

Last weekend, Reuters reported that the US government issued unexpected guidance notifying that it will start enforcing licensing requirements for advanced chips for entities headquartered in China that have operations outside the country.