Despite a US export ban, China has purchased special artificial intelligence (AI) chips from US manufacturer Nvidia. Military facilities, state AI research institutes and universities bought small batches of the semiconductors last year, an analysis of tender documents by Reuters news agency shows. The documents did not show how the providers obtained their Nvidia chips.
Nvidia states that it complies with all applicable export regulations and requires the same from its customers. “If we learn that a customer has illegally resold to a third party, we will take immediate and appropriate action,” a company spokesperson said. The US Commerce Department declined to comment. None of the buyers named in the filing responded to Reuters requests for comment.
The chips sold to China are the A100 and the more powerful H100, the export of which to China and Hong Kong were banned in September 2022, as well as the slower A800 and H800, which Nvidia developed explicitly for the Chinese market due to export restrictions. were also banned last October.
It’s unrealistic to believe that U.S. export restrictions are “watertight” because the chips are small and easily smuggled, said Chris Miller, a professor at Tufts University and author of “Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical.” ” Technology.” . The main goal is to “throw sand in the gears of China’s AI development” by making it more difficult to build large units of advanced chips that can be used to train AI systems.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
