Importers of AI chips in Lithuania say the US export controls will not affect them. This comes after Washington decided on Monday to exclude Lithuania from the list of AI chip partners.
The United States said it would place export restrictions on domestically produced AI chips, which are used in Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Specifically, the restrictions will apply to graphics processing units (GPUs) manufactured by US companies like Nvidia and AMD.
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The restrictions introduced by the outgoing Joe Biden’s administration will not affect 18 US partner countries, which in Europe include Spain, France, Italy, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Netherlands.
The second group includes countries already banned from importing US chips, including China and Russia.
Lithuania, like most of the world, is in the third group of countries that will be allowed chip imports but will be subject to restrictions.
For example, Vilnius will be able to purchase up to 320,000 units of Nvidia GPUs, subject to certain exceptions.
The chip export restriction regulation will enter into force 120 days after its announcement, giving the incoming administration of Donald Trump to mull over it.
Rėdas Šimelis from 3RTechnology firm, the largest Lithuanian importer of Nvidia products, said the restrictions will not affect their company or the country’s tech market.
“We will not be affected in any way,” he told LRT.lt. “The minimum amount of imports [from when the restrictions start] is about 90 million euros.”
3RTechnology, which is the largest importer of Nvidia GPUs, had a turnover of around 3 million euros in 2024. Together with other leading importers in the market, they are unlikely to reach the 90-million-euro mark.
“So I doubt whether the bans imposed on Lithuania will be important. I don't see Lithuania investing 100 million euros in GPUs, at least for now,” Šimelis said.
He did not rule out that the restrictions could have been placed to avoid sanction evasion via Lithuania.
“Once a week I get a message asking if we can sell 100 units of GPU accelerators costing 25,000 euros per unit. We are very cautious about such requests because we have committed to Nvidia to check to whom we are selling,” he added.
Meanwhile, Simonas Černiauskas, head of the Lithuanian digital technology association Infobalt, also said the US restrictions will not have a major impact on the country.
“There is no tragedy for Lithuania at the moment because the indicated quantities – for the time being – certainly exceed the expected demand in the country,” said Černiauskas.
IoT solutions are only sought by major enterprises, like billion-euro startups or ministries, he added.
“For example, if the State Agency for Digital Solutions decides to consolidate its data centres and to work more with IoT, it could buy those chips,” he said.
“It could be universities that are building supercomputers. And, of course, there are big businesses that do not necessarily operate only in Lithuania. It could be our unicorns or other big companies that do computing. But at the moment, there is no risk that their needs will not be met,” Černiauskas added.
In response to the restrictions, Lithuania’s Economy and Innovation Minister Lukas Savickas said Washington’s decision was “surprising”.
“The question is where Lithuania has made mistakes in recent years, that we are not one of the countries that can be entrusted with high technologies,” the minister told LRT.lt.
He said he would discuss this issue with the US ambassador on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Justinas Mickus, an analyst at Lithuania’s Centre for Strategic Analysis of the Government (STRATA), said the restrictions may have to do with economic competition.
“The US decision confirms and reinforces the global hierarchies of techno-capitalism,” he wrote on Facebook.
“With a few exceptions (Five Eyes states Australia and New Zealand), the two cornerstones of the US technological value chains – Western Europe (centred in Germany) and East Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan) – will continue to receive unlimited exports,” Mickus wrote.
“In other words, the US is consolidating existing key partnerships (each of which the US dominates), while also ensuring that breakthrough technologies that could change the parameters of economic competition do not spread more widely,” he added.
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