Chip designer Nvidia said that US officials told it to stop exporting two top computing chips for artificial intelligence work to China, a move that could cripple Chinese firms’ ability to carry out advanced work like image recognition.
The company on Wednesday said the ban, which affects its
A100 and H100 chips designed to speed up machine learning tasks, could
interfere with completion of developing the H100, the flagship chip Nvidia
announced this year.
Nvidia said US officials told it the new rule “will address
the risk that the covered products may be used in, or diverted to, a ‘military
end use’ or ‘military end user’ in China.”
Asked for comment, the US department of Commerce would not
say what new criteria it has laid out for AI chips that can no longer be
shipped to China but said it is reviewing its China-related policies and
practices “keep advanced technologies out of the wrong hands.
“While we are not in a position to outline specific policy
changes at this time, we are taking a comprehensive approach to implement
additional actions necessary related to technologies, end-uses, and end-users
to protect US national security and foreign policy interests,” a spokesperson
told Reuters.
The announcement signals a major escalation of the US
crackdown on China’s technological capabilities as tensions bubble over the
fate of Taiwan, where chips for Nvidia and almost every other major chip firm
are manufactured.
A spokesperson for rival AMD told Reuters the company had
received new license requirements that will stop its MI250 artificial
intelligence chips from being exported to China, but it believes its MI100
chips will not be affected.
Without American chips from companies such as Nvidia and
AMD, Chinese organisations will be unable to cost-effectively carry out the
kind of advanced computing used for image and speech recognition, among many
other tasks.
Image recognition and natural language processing are common
in consumer applications like smartphones that can answer queries and tag
photos. They also have military uses such as scouring satellite imagery for
weapons or bases and filtering digital communications for
intelligence-gathering purposes.
Nvidia said it had booked $400m in sales of the affected
chips this quarter to China that could be lost if Chinese firms decide not to
buy alternative Nvidia products. It said it plans to apply for exemptions to
the rule but has “no assurances” that US officials will grant them.
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