On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US is readying a plan to restrict the access of China to US cloud computing services, according to its sources.

The plan would entail requiring cloud services providers such as Amazon and Microsoft to apply to the government for permission before they grant Chinese companies access to cloud services which utilize advanced Artificial Intelligence chips.

The new rules would reportedly close a loophole which presently allows Chinese AI firms to bypass chip export control rules by utilizing online cloud services. The Wall Street Journal explained that cloud services can allow customers to access powerful computer processor capabilities online, without needing to purchase the advanced equipment which provides them, including advanced microprocessor chips, such as are presently on the export control list.

The new restrictions will be introduced in the coming weeks by the US Department of Commerce, according to the outlet.

The move is sure to ramp up tensions between Washington and Beijing, over their months-long dispute over semiconductors and other manufacturing technologies which Washington has sought to limit Chinese access to, on the grounds of national security.

In October, the US had enacted a sweeping raft of export controls which were designed to prevent China from acquiring specific types of semiconductor chips made with US equipment anywhere in the world. China has protested the moves as “tech hegemony” and a “major security risk.”

In retaliation, earlier this week China placed export limits on two key metals used in the manufacturing of computer chips, to “safeguard national security and interests.” As of July, the export of gallium and germanium will require special export licenses. China is the world’s largest producer of the two metals.

Many of the world’s leading semiconductor chip manufacturers call the United States home, such as Intel and Nvidia, making limitations in access to US semiconductor chips extremely damaging to research and development efforts by technology companies.