The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s internet regulator, has decreed that its biggest tech companies are banned from purchasing NVIDIA’s AI chips. According to the FT, these companies were given orders by the government body to stop whatever tests they were running with the brand’s GPUs, as well as cancel any orders for them.
This is in spite of the fact that many Chinese tech companies have already indicated that they want to purchase tens of thousands of NVIDIA’s AI GPUs. The move tells a broader story: initial reports suggested that reception for NVIDIA H20 GPUs was tepid, but in reality, it was the Chinese government that was actively blocking the purchase of the GPUs.
In response to its actions, the CAC says that it wants these tech companies to purchase homegrown AI chips, particularly those fabricated and manufactured by Huawei and Cambricon, with claims that they are on par with the NVIDIA H20 and RTX Pro 6000D. It’s a bold claim, given that Green Team’s own product currently has an edge over the majority of its rivals.
The ban is clearly a two-faced act by China, especially after you consider how Jensen Huang, NVIDIA CEO, made three trips to China this year, the most recent trip taking place almost immediately after the US gave him the green light to continue selling his H20 GPUs to the country, albeit for a cut of the net sales. It also doesn’t help that the ban comes after news that the GPU could face fines of up to 10% of its China revenue, due to an alleged breach of the country’s anti-monopoly law.
Compounding it further are dissenting voices within China who are openly saying that the H20 chips aren’t safe to use, as they are riddled with backdoors and spyware. It’s an accusation NVIDIA stoically and vehemently denies.
“We can only be in service of a market if the country wants us to be,” Huang told reporters in London regarding the ban. “I’m disappointed with what I see. But they have larger agendas to work out, between China and the US, and I’m understanding of that. We are patient about it. We’ll continue to be supportive of the Chinese government and Chinese companies as they wish.”
(Source: FT via Tom’s Hardware)
