After achieving what seemed impossible, Nvidia sees his future in China threatened by something terrifying: the bureaucracy

What is happening to Nvidia with the GPU to artificial intelligence (AI) H20 It is a real odyssey. Currently this chip is its best asset to protect its position in the Chinese market, but at the current situation it is not clear that the company led by Jensen Huang go survive In this gigantic Asian country. Interestingly, the beginnings of this GPU in China were extraordinarily promising because Their sales grew by 50% quarter to quarter since it arrived in this market in mid -2024.

However, everything was complicated for Nvidia in the middle of last April. And is that the US Department of Commerce imposed new restrictions To the export to China of the H20 GPU, which in practice caused this chip to stop reaching the Chinese clients of this company. This news Nvidia’s shares sank 6% in the bag because I could no longer attend the commitments linked to the H20 GPU that it had acquired.

At the beginning of July there was another unexpected turn of events. Jensen Huang met with Donald Trump and got something that seemed impossible: the trade department would allow him Sell again in China the H20 chip. Since then four weeks have passed and Nvidia continues to wait. He has not yet received the export license you need to sell this GPU in China, and, According to ReutersThe problem is that the Commerce Department is mired in the bureaucracy, which has originated a delay in the concession of export licenses that has not occurred for more than 30 years.

The future of Nvidia in China is in the hands of the Chinese government

This delay comes at the worst time for Nvidia. Among Chinese clients who have bought great amounts of this GPU, and that presumably plan to continue doing itare Tencent, Alibaba or Bytedance. But if the Department of Commerce takes much more the delivery of the export license to NVIDIA these commercial operations could be canceled. And it is that Jensen Huang’s company has another very important open front.

As We explain to you last weekthe administration of the cyberspace of China, usually known as CAC for its English denomination (Cyberspace Administration of China), he has decided Thoroughly investigate the H20 GPU. This institution is the main Internet regulatory body in China and is responsible for the censorship and control of the contents published in the Network, the supervision of technology companies and compliance with the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law.

The problem that Nvidia faces now is that The CAC has decided to investigate it Because he suspects that the H20 chip could incorporate a rear door of difficult location by Chinese experts. If so, the possibility of China to use this GPU could be possible. At the moment the CAC has limited himself to questioning those responsible for NVIDIA in China and ask them to demonstrate that the H20 Chip does not represent a threat to the interests and security of the country led by Xi Jinping.

As expected, Nvidia has immediately responded to the Chinese authorities and is collaborating to dissipate as soon as possible the doubts that loom about the H20 chip. According to SCMPthose responsible for the company in China have assured CAC researchers that the GPUs for the develops They do not incorporate any “back door” implemented to facilitate espionage by the US government. “Cybersecurity is of vital importance for us”, has declared A NVIDIA executive. “We have no rear doors in our chips that can give someone remote access or the ability to control them.” Probably during the next few days we will know how this conflict ends.

Image | Nvidia

More information | Reuters

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