Despite US sanctions, Chinese universities and research institutions have obtained advanced AI chips from Nvidia, according to the Reuters news agency. It may concern old stocks, from before last year’s ‘ban’, but that is not certain, says Jos Versteeg, analyst at InsingerGilissen. ‘There has been speculation for some time that it concerns the H100, which, unlike the slightly older A100, was never actually allowed to go to China.’
‘Advanced Nvidia chips in the hands of Chinese universities’
4 min 36 sec
Reuters has found out from hundreds of Chinese tender documents that China indeed has these advanced chips, says Versteeg. The Nvidia chips may have ended up in China via a company in the Middle East, which employs many Chinese. ‘So that’s over resellers happened. The Americans can’t do much about it, but you can see from the reactions that companies are taking this very seriously. If you get caught, you will have a very big problem: Nvidia will never supply its chips to you again.’
Punishments are not gentle
Those chips are already so rare, so according to Versteeg, it is shady parties that are focusing on them. “If you are caught violating American rules, the penalties are harsh.” Versteeg does not see China copying the chips itself in the short term. ‘Nvidia is so strong in designing those chips alone that no one will be able to copy that. The protection offered by Nvidia’s chips is that they only work if you also have the software.’
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Even if you could design those chips, only Taiwan’s TSMC would be able to manufacture them, and they wouldn’t dream of doing that for China. Versteeg will not be surprised if an investigation is conducted into what exactly happened. It would have been in the Middle East there was a company that developed AI and bought chips from Nvidia. Many Chinese worked there. I wouldn’t be surprised if it went through the Middle East. Anyone can buy chips and then sell them to China. There is always someone who delivers it.
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