Chinese companies invest $16 billion to order Nvidia's new chips
According to a report by Reuters on April 2, citing two sources familiar with the matter, Chinese companies including ByteDance, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings have ordered at least $16 billion worth of H20 server chips from Nvidia in the first three months of this year.
H20 is currently the most advanced AI processor that can be legally purchased in the Chinese market under U.S. export controls. In February, Reuters reported that orders for H20 chips surged due to strong demand for low-cost AI models launched by China-based startup DeepSeek.
Since 2018, the U.S. has been continuously tightening restrictions on China's semiconductor industry, particularly in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI). In 2019, the U.S. placed Huawei on the "Entity List," banning American companies from supplying chips and related technologies, and subsequently expanded restrictions to block exports of advanced chip manufacturing equipment. Later, in October 2022, the U.S. Commerce Department introduced strict "chip export regulations," prohibiting the export of high-end GPUs and AI chips to China, and restricting American companies and personnel from participating in China's chip manufacturing.
In 2023, the U.S. further tightened controls, banning the export of high-performance chips such as Nvidia's A100 and H100 to China, and even blocking modified versions like A800 and H800 designed specifically for the Chinese market. This year, Nvidia introduced H20 chips, which can be legally purchased in restricted regions to cope with export controls.
Source: rfi
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1828336140674075/
Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author only.