(Bloomberg) -- Nvidia Corp. led declines in tech stocks on a report that the US may further tighten chip-export restrictions, potentially denting sales in the world’s top semiconductor market.

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Nvidia, which gets about one-fifth of its revenue from China, slid 2.4% as the market opened in New York, clawing back some earlier losses. Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. fell about 1.6%. The two lead the market for chips vital to the development of generative artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT. In China, traders unloaded a slew of AI-related stocks, pushing Inspur Electronic Information Industry Co. and Unisplendour Corp. — both key hardware suppliers — down 10%.

Nvidia this year designed less-capable chips that fall under thresholds that require a license from the US Commerce Department before export to China or other countries of concern. Washington is now weighing action as soon as next month to expand the curbs to include those lower-powered semiconductors, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.

Such a move underscores the Biden administration’s determination to contain China’s technological rise and could escalate tensions between the two countries. The US is increasingly concerned about Beijing’s technological ambitions, including around the use of AI in military and scientific advances that could tilt the geopolitical balance.

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While that’s likely to hurt Nvidia’s and AMD’s business with the world’s No. 2 economy, the two chipmakers remain at the forefront of a surge in AI development that’s driving investment from the US to Europe and China. From Microsoft Corp. to Baidu Inc. and ChatGPT developer OpenAI, companies around the world are buying their products to train the next generation of artificial intelligence services.