Thumbnail 1659488
thumbnail
Large (256x256)

Articles

NVIDIA says it can resume selling key AI chips to China
NVIDIA will be able to start selling its H20 AI GPU to China again soon after gaining approval to do so from the US government, the company announced in a blog post. Earlier this year, the company was blocked from selling the H20 to China over concerns it could aid the nation's military."NVIDIA is filing applications to sell the H20 GPU again. The US government has assured NVIDIA that licenses will be granted and NVIDIA hopes to start deliveries soon," the article states. The company also announced the NVIDIA RTX Pro GPU that's "fully compliant" for the Chinese market, designed for smart factories and logistics.The US government starting blocking sales of NVIDIA's most powerful AI graphics processors, like the A100 and H200, to China back in 2022. The company subsequently developed the A800 and H800 chips for the Chinese market, but those were subsequently banned as well by the Biden administration back in 2023. NVIDIA then came up with the HGX H20 and two other chips that conformed to export rules.Sales of that chip were blocked too in April, but the US department of commerce has apparently reversed course again. That could be a tremendous help for NVIDIA financially as it's currently holding $8 billion in unshipped orders and expects up to $5 billion in additional revenue for 2025, Bloomberg reported.Yesterday, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang dismissed concerns that China's military would use the company's chips to develop AI. "They don't need NVIDIA's chips, certainly, or American tech stacks in order to build their military," he said, adding that it would be foolish of them to do so because "they simply can't rely on it." Huang has previously said that NVIDIA export bans didn't stop China from developing AI and allowed its competitors, especially Huawei, to gain ground on US technology.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nvidia-says-it-can-resume-selling-key-ai-chips-to-china-120015817.html?src=rss
$1 billion of NVIDIA AI chips were reportedly sold in China despite US bans
Financial Times is reporting that $1 billion worth of NVIDIA AI chips were smuggled into China in the three months after the Trump administration tightened semiconductor export controls. Citing sales contracts, company documents and people with direct knowledge, the publication says that a thriving black market arose for American semiconductors. Products sold included NVIDIA's toptier B200 chips, which have become the silicon of choice for American big tech when training AI models. Sale of these chips to China is banned by the United States.With journalists on the ground in China, Financial Times reports on a veritable web of thirdparty data center operators, middlemen and purportedly smuggled readybuilt racks that have all materialized to meet the demand for NVIDIA's most powerful chips. Along with the B200, the H100 and H200 are also restricted yet highly sought after. All of these are far more capable than the weaker H20 chip, which was designed to comply with export restrictions for sale to China, though even that model has faced on and off export bans.NVIDIA, for its part, told Financial Times it has no evidence of any AI chip diversion" and that trying to cobble together data centers from smuggled products is a losing proposition, both technically and economically." NVIDIA explained, Data centers require service and support, which we provide only to authorized NVIDIA products."Images produced by Financial Times show boxes of server racks emblazoned with company logos such as Supermicro and ASUS being advertised on social media in China. Those companies deny any knowledge of how their products ended up on the Chinese black market, and Financial Times is not alleging any such involvement.Reporting suggests that some Southeast Asian countries have become hubs for Chinese groups to obtain restricted chips. Having these server racks shipped to Thailand or Malaysia may circumvent US export controls. The US Department of Commerce is reportedly considering increasing export controls on advanced AI chips to these countries.The demand for these products is without question, and as one Chinese distributor told Financial Times, History has proven many times before that given the huge profit, arbitrators will always find a way."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/1-billion-of-nvidia-ai-chips-were-reportedly-sold-in-china-despite-us-bans-143119762.html?src=rss
NVIDIA may give US government a cut of its profits to sell AI chips to China
The debate over whether AI chipmakers should be allowed to sell their products to China has taken an unusual turn. The US government has reportedly given NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) permission to make the sales but for one big catch: 15 percent of the sales. The news was first reported by The Financial Times, which cited multiple people familiar with the agreement.In July, NVIDIA announced that the US government would approve export licenses to sell its H20 AI GPUs after blocking their sale in April. NVIDIA created these specific chips - which are less powerful than ones sold in the US - in response to restrictions on sales to China. It previously developed the A800 and H800 chips for the Chinese market, but those were also banned.Now, NVIDIA and AMP were both reportedly granted export licenses for China last week, after agreeing to give the government 15 percent of their profits. AMP will provide the share from sales of its MI308 chip.There's significant debate over whether selling AI chips to China will endanger US national security. At the end of July, 20 national security experts and past government officials - including President Trump's former deputy national security advisor, Matt Pottinger - wrote a letter to Howard Lutnick, the US Secretary of Commerce, stating as much.The signatories "believe this move represents a strategic misstep that endangers the United States' economic and military edge in artificial intelligence." They worry it will restrict the number of chips available for the US and be used by China's military, among other concerns. NVIDIA disagrees, claiming the export licenses will allow it to compete with Chinese businesses.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nvidia-may-give-us-government-a-cut-of-its-profits-to-sell-ai-chips-to-china-120003260.html?src=rss
1