Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that the United States is currently looking into the characteristics of three new artificial intelligence accelerators that Nvidia is developing for the Chinese market.
Gina Raimondo stated this month that the American authorities will take measures aimed at limiting the supply of any new chips to Beijing that provide the ability to create machine intelligence systems. Last Monday, December 11, during a conversation with media representatives in Nashua, New Hampshire, she talked about looking into the specifications of each new microcircuit to make sure that these products do not violate export control standards introduced by Washington.
The Commerce Secretary stated that the department she heads is in the process of communicating with Nvidia on an ongoing basis. In this context, she noted that this company is a good partner. Gina Raimondo stated that Nvidia provides information about its activities.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday, December 12, that the actions of the United States related to the introduction of restrictions in sphere technologies undermine the legitimate rights and interests of companies from the Asian country, noting that the measures implemented by the American authorities will not contribute to the stability of global and industrial supply chains. At a regular press briefing in Beijing, she also stated that the mentioned Washington decisions contradict the principles of a market economy and do not correspond to fair competition.
Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, California, began work on the development of chips for artificial intelligence for China after the United States tightened export controls on the supply of high-tech products to the Asian country. It is worth noting that the company is making these efforts not the first time. Amid the initial restrictions on Chinese firms’ access to advanced chips, Nvidia has created microcircuits for shipments to the Asian country, legally bypassing export regulations. Another tightening of the relevant measures by the American authorities has deprived the company of the opportunity to fully interact with customers from China.
The new Nvidia chips comply with stricter export restrictions imposed on Beijing by Washington. This was announced by the company’s chief executive officer Jensen Huang last week in Singapore.
Nvidia says it is working closely with the United States government. The company follows the rules and strives to offer compliant norms data center solutions to customers around the world.
Gina Raimondo said in early December that the United States can and will continue to take measures aimed at tightening export controls on technology supplies that can provide China with an advantage in various industries, including the defense sector. She said she was ready to restrict Beijing’s access to chips that allow the creation of artificial intelligence systems immediately after the appearance of these products. The corresponding statement was made at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.
The Commerce Secretary did not provide comments in response to a media request about plans to limit the supply of new Nvidia chips, noting the intention to constantly update export control rules against the background of new threats.
There are materials in the information space that American companies engaged in the production of semiconductor equipment are investing in China, supplying this country with some of the most advanced technologies in the world. Publicly available data shows that the combined revenues of SEMs Applied Materials, KLA, and Lam Research from activity in the Asian country increased by 103% between 2018 and 2022.
Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger said in the summer of this year that the company he heads cooperates with more than 1,000 firms, many of which have nothing to do with the threat to national security from China. Supporters of stricter export controls against Beijing question this statement. In their opinion, many companies may be so-called shell structures whose activities are carried out in the interests of the Chinese defense industry and the intelligence of this country.
From 2018 to 2022, the share of the Asian state in the total supply structure of equipment from American manufacturers Applied Materials, Lam Research, and KLA Corporation increased from 21.5% to 24.7%.
Many experts also point out that the so-called obsolete chips, which include 28-nanometer and sometimes 14-nanometer microcircuits, are also very important and useful for the military industry. At the same time, Washington is focusing on more modern developments as part of efforts to limit Beijing’s access to chips for national security reasons.
As we have reported earlier, Nvidia Invests in More Than 35 AI Companies in 2023.
