US orders immediate halt to some AI chip exports to China, Nvidia still owes Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent $5 billion chips
Tech giant Nvidia says the US has told it to stop shipping some of its advanced artificial intelligence chips to China immediately.
The restrictions were supposed to be introduced 30 days from 17 October.
That was when President Joe Biden’s administration announced measures to block countries, including China, Iran and Russia, from buying high-end AI chips designed by Nvidia and others.
Nvidia did not say why the timeline had been moved forward.
In a statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nvidia said the US government said these curbs were “effective immediately”, but added that “given the strength of demand for the Company’s products worldwide, the Company does not anticipate that the accelerated timing of the licensing requirements will have a near-term meaningful impact on its financial results”.
The new restrictions bar exports of Nvidia’s advanced AI chips, which had been designed for the Chinese market to comply with earlier export regulations.
The acceleration of the introduction of the US curbs is the latest move in the ongoing technology dispute between Washington and Beijing.
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China attacks latest US chip restrictions
Chinese authorities have yet to publicly comment on Nvidia’s announcement, but it hit back at the Biden administration’s decision to impose new restrictions on advanced chip exports when it was announced last week.
The country’s foreign ministry said the curbs “violate the principles of the market economy and fair competition”.
The move was seen as an attempt to close loopholes that became apparent after an initial wave of chip controls last October.
At the time, the US said the measures were designed to prevent China from receiving cutting-edge technologies that it could use to strengthen its military, especially in the field of AI.
Soaring demand for Nvidia’s AI chips has pushed up its share price more than threefold, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world.
In May the firm joined technology giants Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft in the elite club of companies with stock market valuations of more than $1 trillion (£822bn).
California-based Nvidia has come to dominate the market for chips used in AI systems.
Chip giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which also supplies AI chips to China, has not made any announcement about the accelerated export curbs.
据外媒报道，尽管中国科技公司已经提前向英伟达采购了逾50亿美元芯片来应对美国出口管制政策，但是这些订单多数仍未交付，而且存在被取消的可能。
四名知情人士透露，中国公司正在努力开发英伟达精密AI芯片的替代品。
根据英伟达发布的声明称，美国出口管制的收紧还将迫使该公司停止向中国出口两款AI处理器A800和H800，这两款处理器是该公司为遵守此前的出口管制规定为中国市场量身定制的。分析师表示，美国出台的限制措施意味着中国科技公司将不得不转用类似英伟达2017年发布的V100这样的AI芯片，以训练和运行生成式AI模型。但是，自从V100发布以来，芯片已经变得远远更加先进，这才足以支撑OpenAI开发出ChatGPT。
北京的一名芯片顾问表示，在中国公司追赶OpenAI和其他美国公司的AI进展之际，美国的这些限制措施对他们构成了“生死存亡的挑战”。
50亿美元订单推迟
分析师们称，尽管中国大型科技公司囤积了大量AI芯片，但是美国的出口管制措施最终将使得在中国训练AI模型比在美国训练更昂贵、更耗时。投行伯恩斯坦公司高级分析师鲍里斯·范(Boris Van)估计，如果中国公司依赖与英伟达V100类似的芯片，那么数据处理成本至少会增加一倍。
“一旦现有芯片储备耗尽，中国AI公司将难以改进它们的模型。”
根据今年8月的报道，阿里、百度、字节跳动、腾讯等中国大型科技公司已经采购了价值逾50亿美元的英伟达芯片，但几位知情人士表示，其中多数订单尚未交付。
北京一位急需英伟达处理器的AI企业家表示，“芯片供应状况很糟糕”。他指出，英伟达的交付时间已经比原计划晚了几个月时间。
美国政府给英伟达和其他芯片公司一个月左右的宽限期，让他们履行对中国的订单。“在宽限期内无法交付的订单，都将不得不取消。”
尽管业内人士预计，一些芯片将继续通过其他渠道流入中国，但他们认为，这些芯片供应将无法满足科技公司在训练生成式AI模型方面的高需求。
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