US media: White House blocks NVIDIA from selling reduced-performance AI chips to China
U.S. tech media "The Information" on November 6 cited three informed sources, stating that the White House has notified other federal agencies that it will not allow U.S. semiconductor company NVIDIA to sell its latest reduced-performance artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China.
The report said that NVIDIA has provided samples of a chip called "B30A" to several of its Chinese customers. Once efficiently deployed in large clusters, this chip can be used to train large language models. Two NVIDIA employees revealed that the company is working to modify the design of the B30A chip and hopes that the U.S. government will reconsider its position.
An NVIDIA spokesperson told Reuters that the company has no market share in the fiercely competitive data center computing market in China and has not included it in its revenue forecasts.
The Trump administration currently prohibits NVIDIA from selling its most advanced Blackwell chips to China. However, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bernanke revealed on November 4 that when these chips are no longer the top-tier products, they might be allowed to be sold to China.
In January this year, the U.S. Department of Commerce released documents stating that the U.S. will implement new export restrictions on advanced chips and artificial intelligence models to protect national security and prevent these technologies from being used by unfriendly countries. These restrictions aim to prevent artificial intelligence technology from being used to develop weapons, conduct cyberattacks, or carry out mass surveillance on hostile countries.
China has repeatedly expressed its position on related issues. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that the U.S. politicizes, overemphasizes security, and instrumentalizes economic, trade, and technological issues, continuously increasing export controls on chips to China, pressuring other countries to suppress China's semiconductor industry. Such actions hinder the development of the global semiconductor industry and ultimately harm both sides, damaging others and oneself.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1848114191348739/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.