The United States increased its ban on the export of high-end Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices artificial intelligence chips outside of China to other regions, including some Middle Eastern nations.
The limits, which affect Nvidia’s A100 and H100 processors intended to accelerate machine-learning activities, were described as not having a “immediate material impact” on the company’s outcomes in a regulatory filing this week.
According to a source familiar with the situation who spoke to Reuters, rival AMD also received an informed letter with identical limits. The measure will not significantly affect AMD’s revenue, the source added.
For concerns of national security, U.S. authorities typically implement export controls. Similar action taken last year indicated a step up in the U.S. crackdown on China’s technological prowess, although it was not immediately obvious what dangers shipments to the Middle East posed.
In a different statement, Nvidia claimed that the new licensing requirement has no appreciable impact on its revenue. To resolve this issue, they are collaborating with the American government.
A request for comment was not immediately responded to by the U.S. Commerce Department, which typically oversees new licensing regulations for exports.
AMD announced in September of last year that new license requirements had been obtained, halting the export of its MI250 artificial intelligence chips to China.
Since then, plans have been made public by Nvidia, AMD, and Intel to develop less potent AI chips for the Chinese market.
Nvidia stated in a filing dated August 28 of last year that U.S. officials told them the rule will address the danger that products may be used in, or diverted to, a “military end use” or “military end user” in China. However, Nvidia provided no explanation for the new limits.
This week, Nvidia omitted identifying the Middle Eastern nations that were impacted. Sales of $13.5 billion during the company’s fiscal quarter that concluded on July 30 were primarily sourced from the US, China, and Taiwan. Nvidia does not offer a revenue breakdown for the Middle East, however all other nations combined accounted for about 13.9% of sales.
Nvidia stated in the Aug. 28 filing that the USG (U.S. government) informed it of an extra licensing need for a subset of A100 and H100 devices intended for specific customers and other regions, including several nations in the Middle East.
The statements from the previous year came as tensions over Taiwan’s future, where Nvidia and nearly all other big chip makers produce their chips, were on the rise.
By releasing a comprehensive set of export limits in October 2022, the Biden administration took things a step further. Among the controls was one that barred China from obtaining specific semiconductor chips produced anywhere in the globe using American machinery. In an effort to halt Beijing’s military and technical advancements, the action significantly increased Washington’s influence.
Similar laws were later adopted by the Netherlands, Japan, and other countries this year.
Chinese organizations won’t be able to affordably perform the kind of advanced computing necessary for image and speech recognition, among many other activities, without American AI chips from companies like Nvidia and AMD.
Consumer applications, such those on smartphones, that can respond to inquiries and tag photographs frequently use image recognition and natural language processing. Additionally, they are employed by the military to filter digital communications for intelligence gathering and search satellite photos for bases or weapons.
