Huang Renxun: China is only "a few nanoseconds" behind the US, and we must participate in the competition

In recent years, the US government has implemented a series of chip export restrictions against China, attempting to suppress the development of China's chip industry. However, US tech companies have found that the US' containment efforts cannot stop the advancement of Chinese technology, and Chinese companies are actively trying to bypass the US.

According to a report by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on September 28, NVIDIA's CEO Huang Renxun recently stated that China is only "a few nanoseconds" behind the United States in the chip field, and has tremendous potential in chip R&D and manufacturing. He called on the US government to allow US tech companies to compete in markets such as China to "enhance the influence of the US."

Huang Renxun said in a podcast program released on the 26th that the chip industry is a "vibrant, entrepreneurial, high-tech modern industry," and that China has a rich talent pool and fierce internal competition, with great potential in chip R&D and manufacturing. He said, "China is only a few nanoseconds behind the US, so we must go and compete."

Huang Renxun believes that the US should allow its tech industry to compete globally, including in the Chinese market, thus "disseminating technology around the world," and "maximizing the economic success and geopolitical influence of the US."

He also added that he believes China will remain open to foreign investment, and that "foreign companies investing in China, competing in China, and interacting between them form active competition, which is in China's interest. They also hope to go out of China and participate in global competition."

With the rapid development of AI technology, NVIDIA's graphics processing unit (GPU) business has seen a surge. However, in recent years, the US government has imposed strict export controls to suppress the development of Chinese chips. Earlier this year, the US government banned NVIDIA from exporting H20 chips to China until NVIDIA agreed to pay 15% of its sales in China to the US government, after which it was allowed to resume the export license for this chip.

The H20 is a "downgraded version" of NVIDIA's AI chip specifically designed for the Chinese market in compliance with US export controls. Its performance is only 15%-30% of the flagship product H100, based on NVIDIA's older Hopper architecture.

However, facing the US' suppression, Chinese companies are striving to launch domestic AI chips that can replace NVIDIA, seizing the market share that NVIDIA once dominated. For example, Huawei recently announced the product iteration roadmap for Ascend AI chips over the next three years, using an integrated approach of "super node + cluster" to meet the continuously growing demand for computing power.

The South China Morning Post pointed out that internet giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, and ByteDance are also increasing their investments in chip R&D and design, aiming to gain greater autonomy and control in the supply chain.

On September 16 local time, Reuters reported exclusively that NVIDIA launched several "downgraded special versions" of chips for China, but more and more Chinese buyers are unwilling to buy them. For example, the latest AI chip tailored for the Chinese market, RTX6000D, has low demand, and its main large customers - multiple Chinese tech giants have refused to place orders.

In addition, NVIDIA is also facing security vulnerabilities and monopoly risks.

On July 31, in order to maintain the cybersecurity and data security of Chinese users, China questioned NVIDIA, requiring it to explain and submit relevant proof materials regarding the security risks of backdoors in the H20 computing chips sold to China. The new media account "Yuyuantan Tian" under China Central Television also published an article pointing out that the H20 chip is "not environmentally friendly, nor advanced, and not safe," and is not a "good choice."

Last December 9, Chinese regulatory authorities investigated NVIDIA for suspected violations of the Anti-Monopoly Law. Nearly a year later, on September 15, the State Administration for Market Regulation again issued a statement on its website stating that NVIDIA violated the Anti-Monopoly Law and decided to implement further investigations in accordance with the law.

On September 17 local time, Huang Renxun responded to the recent further investigation conducted by Chinese authorities on NVIDIA. He said that the US needs to "ensure that people can obtain this (AI chip) technology from all over the world, including China." He said, "The progress of human society is not a zero-sum game... But I believe dialogue will solve it on its own."

Huang Renxun emphasized the importance of China's AI industry. He pointed out, "The Chinese market is very important and large. The tech industry is vibrant. We have been serving the Chinese market for 30 years."

Regarding the chip sales issue, Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on September 18 that China has always opposed discriminatory practices against specific countries in trade, economic and technological issues. China is willing to maintain dialogue and cooperation with all parties to maintain the stability of the global supply chain.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1844519345976331/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.