China's Association for Science and Technology (CAST) has announced a boycott of the prestigious Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), a leading artificial intelligence conference. This decision, made on Friday, March 27, 2026, follows NeurIPS' implementation of a new policy that prohibits submissions from entities under U.S. sanctions, including Chinese tech giants Huawei and SMIC. CAST stated it will cease funding applications for members wishing to attend NeurIPS, redirecting funds to domestic or other international conferences that respect Chinese academics' rights. This move underscores the escalating geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China in the race for AI dominance, impacting the exchange of cutting-edge research and talent.