Microsoft has extended an offer to some of its China-based staff to relocate outside of the country, as tensions rise between Beijing and Washington over sensitive technology including artificial intelligence.The software giant “shared an optional internal transfer opportunity with a subset of employees”, according to a company spokesperson on Thursday, adding that Microsoft will “continue to operate in [China] and other markets where we have a presence”.

The relocation offer comes as Washington tightens export controls on technology including advanced semiconductors over national security concerns. The US government is also voicing increasing concern over the potential for foreign actors to exploit AI “for harmful purposes”.

The Biden administration in January proposed new rules that would require US cloud companies to disclose when foreign actors train the most powerful AI models using their systems.