South Korean media: Huang Renxun persuaded Trump, Nvidia's "H20" is allowed to be exported to China!
On April 15th, South Korean media "Global Economy" published an article stating that with the US government's decision to allow Nvidia's artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor "H20" to be exported to China, not only Nvidia, but even global semiconductor companies supplying memory for this chip can breathe a sigh of relief. Even in the midst of conflicts between China and the US over the AI chip market, H20 is seen as an exception.
According to foreign media reports, this decision was made after Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun recently met with US President Donald Trump and proposed "plans to invest in AI infrastructure in the United States". It is understood that Huang Renxun personally lobbied during a dinner held at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and eventually the US government accepted his request, exempting H20 from regulatory targets.
Despite the strict export controls implemented by the Trump administration, Nvidia's H20 is the highest-end AI chip that can be legally supplied to China. Although its performance is inferior to Nvidia's latest AI chip Blackwell, it is still considered a highly demanded product in China. It is reported that in just the first quarter of this year, major Chinese tech companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance have booked orders worth approximately $16 billion for H20.
Prior to this, the US has been gradually restricting the export of high-performance AI semiconductors and the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supporting these semiconductors. In particular, the separate export of HBM has been obstructed since the end of last year, placing a huge burden on global memory manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
However, if HBM is combined with American enterprise AI chips and then exported, there are exceptions. With H20 being exempted from sanctions this time, it is expected that this exception clause will remain unchanged. It is understood that SK Hynix is currently supplying the fifth-generation HBM3E for H20, and Samsung Electronics is also undergoing certification work with Nvidia to re-enter the supply chain.
Meanwhile, the US government is strengthening regulations to prevent China from acquiring AI technology, but seems to retain the possibility of adjustment to avoid harming the global competitiveness of American enterprises.
With the Trump administration allowing H20 to be exported to China, the future direction of AI semiconductor export control policies remains to be observed.
Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829470894779468/
Disclaimer: The article solely represents the views of the author.