Alibaba, Tencent shares fall on report U.S. weighs curbs on remote AI chip access

Shares of Alibaba (HK:9988) and Tencent (HK:0700) fell on Thursday after The Information reported that the U.S. Commerce Department was preparing to finalise rules preventing Chinese AI companies from remotely accessing advanced chips through data centres located overseas.

The proposed measure could be announced this month and would expand existing semiconductor export controls administered by the department's Bureau of Industry and Security to seven additional countries, including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, the report said.

Hong Kong-listed Alibaba shares fell 5% to HK$95.6 by 05:08 GMT, while Tencent slipped 1.5% to HK$403.6.

The restrictions aim to prevent Chinese companies from accessing advanced processors remotely and curb the smuggling of restricted chips into China.

The report comes amid growing scrutiny of Nvidia's China-related business and Washington's efforts to tighten enforcement of semiconductor export restrictions.