On Monday, October 23, the U.S. Department of Commerce ordered NVIDIA to manufacture high-end chips and graphics processors corp immediately halt exports to China without licence of any of the artificial intelligence chips produced by this company. The fresh restrictions on exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips announced by Washington on October 18 are due to begin to apply on November 16, but the NVIDIA authorities have been informed of erstwhile restrictions on their products.
The limitations apply to processors with a higher performance limit, designed or placed on the marketplace for usage in data centres. The fresh rules clarify the definition of an advanced artificial intelligence chip and introduce additional licensing requirements for deliveries to over forty countries to prevent secondary sales of chips to China, Russia and Iran.
Under the fresh regulation, chip manufacturers may apply for a licence to sale to selected Chinese customers, but they do not have a warrant that specified an application will be considered positively and within a reasonable time. In addition to NVIDIA, production for export of advanced artificial intelligence chips is handled by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel Corporation, which, like the Department of Commerce itself, refused to comment on the decision.
As a consequence of the introduction of fresh restrictions, NVIDIA must suspend exports to China of A800 and H800 chips which it has offered Chinese customers as an alternate to A100 and H100 subject to export restrictions of October 2022. The fresh restrictions will besides include the NVIDIA-based graphics processing unit (GPU) L40S, designed for generic artificial intelligence, introduced in August.
Accelerating the entry into force of the restrictions is intended to prevent increased purchases of advanced chips by China before the restrictions adopted on October 18 formally apply. According to experts from China itself, this country remains dependent on chips produced by the Yankee Qualcomm, as well as iOS and Android systems. West capital, for example, inactive controls 90% of the data collection systems in Chinese banking and telecommunications.
Already in the five-year technological and method improvement plan announced by China in 2006, production of semiconductors and computer software was identified as priorities. The sanctions imposed by Washington increased China's efforts to control to its own Chinese products: the state-owned companies are to make specified an exchange yet by 2027. This in turn reduces the presence of Western companies in China and hinders joint-venture.
Ronald Lasecki