Cambricon, Moore Threads jump as U.S. weighs remote AI curbs

The rally in Chinese chip stocks on Thursday was set off by two separate developments that investors treated as connected. Overnight, U.S. semiconductor shares had rallied strongly, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing 5.7% on Wednesday, and Chinese financial media highlighted that rebound as a driver of domestic gains. Strong results from AI cloud provider CoreWeave helped ease concerns about the financing and sustainability of data-center investment, supporting demand for chipmakers and other AI infrastructure suppliers.

At the same time, investors were assessing a potential tightening of U.S. restrictions. The Information reported that the Commerce Department was preparing a rule to prevent Chinese AI companies from remotely accessing advanced chips through data centers in other countries. The measure could be announced as soon as this month and would extend existing semiconductor-related controls to seven additional countries, including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, though the proposal remains under interagency review and has not been finalized.

The proposed restrictions would target a route through which Chinese companies can obtain computing capacity without physically importing restricted processors. Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance have signed agreements with overseas data-center operators that provide access to advanced Nvidia chips for AI training, according to The Information. The prospect of tighter controls could reinforce Beijing's push to develop domestic alternatives and reduce reliance on foreign technology, though the shift is not automatic: Chinese chipmakers continue to face constraints in advanced manufacturing and other parts of the semiconductor supply chain.