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Chinese artificial intelligence engineers reportedly have access to banned Nvidia (NVDA) It imports the chips through brokers, despite U.S. export restrictions that could slow the country’s AI progress.
Working with brokers, Chinese AI engineers Without physically bringing in a server equipped with NVIDIA’s AI chips According to the Wall Street Journal, some people are smuggling the banned chips into the country, some of them doing so anonymously using cryptocurrency.
Derek Au is working with a Chinese company to develop Nvidia’s (NVDA) Au, the computing power maestro, told The Wall Street Journal that he persuaded investors in the U.S. and Dubai to help him buy AI servers equipped with Nvidia’s H100 chips. Au’s company then installed more than 300 of the servers in an Australian data center, which then began using them to power the Beijing-based company’s AI models, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Chinese AI companies have reportedly had access to Nvidia’s advanced chips, despite the US trying to tighten export controls on advanced chip-making equipment sold to China. Through a resellerand even By renting an Nvidia-powered server From Google (Google)Microsoft (Microsoft)and other technology companies. Nvidia declined to comment.
Nvidia is Three chips designed Existing export controls on China, including the H20, will have to be adhered to. However, analysts at Jefferies say that “the United States may be able to implement a revised export control regime in October when it conducts its annual review of U.S. semiconductor export controls.” H20 will be banned from being sold to ChinaMeanwhile, the Biden administration Considering the use of export controls It is called Foreign Direct Product Rules To prevent allies from selling advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China.
Nvidia is also reportedly working on an updated version. Blackwell AI Platform For the Chinese market The chipmaker, tentatively called “B20,” will reportedly launch and sell the chip in China in conjunction with local distribution partner Inspur.
Lawyers told The Wall Street Journal that buyers, sellers and brokers involved in accessing banned Nvidia AI chips are not breaking the law, and cloud companies have said trade restrictions do not apply to access to U.S. cloud services. But the Commerce Department proposed rules in January aimed at targeting “malign foreign actors” and barring them from accessing U.S. cloud computing infrastructure.
