A few days ago Nvidia got what It seemed impossible: That the US government allowed you to sell your H20 GPU very soon to Chinese clients. It was an important turn in the Trump administration policy, which since April had raised his restrictions. Despite the hardness of the sanctions, the plan has had lagoons, according to an investigation of the Financial Times.
What happened. The Financial Times has accessed sales contracts, to presentations of companies already involved in the industry and has drawn a conclusion: three months after Trump harden the export control, chips worth $ 1 billion were sent to China. In context, it is a huge figure, if one takes into account that Nvidia entered 17,000 million last year.
The process began in May according to the Financial Times, when Chinese distributors began marketing GPU on which restrictions on data centers that work with Chinese Laboratories of AI weigh. The investigation points to something that the US already suspected: Many chips enter from Southeast Asia
They are not any chips. The investigation reveals that Chinese AI companies are managing to acquire the GPU B200 of Nvidia, a beast that It already has a successorbut that is a candy to train models. And it promised multiply by four The performance of the desired H100 in MLPERF 4.1.
The investigation also mentions the sale of other chips on which export controls weigh, such as the aforementioned GPU H100 and its successor, the H200. The price of a Rack Of eight B200 ready to use is approximately $ 489,000, and has dropped in price since they arrived in China in May. The difference with the sale that is authorized? An extra 50%.
Publication in social networks announcing the sale of ASUS H200 racks. Image: Financial Times
Nvidia’s position. The company has maintained a defense position to remain in China these months, and it is that this market supposed 13% of its global income. Jensen Huang has been praising the Chinese models of AI At a complicated moment for the company, in need of strengthening its complicity among Chinese companies while just selling chips.
In full Dilemma for the US to sell or not sellHuang has placed the power of Huawei’s solutions at the height of the H200.
A path full of difficulties. As Nvidia told Financial Times, buying chips clandestine is not something that allows expected yields. Mounting a data center with the GPUs is not just a process of installing parts, but about giving them service and support, something that the company does not supply to chips sold outside authorized channels.
According to an operator of a data center, the export control does not prevent NVIDIA chips from reaching China, and what it does is create inefficiencies and “huge profits for intermediaries that assume risks.” Even so, a distributor recognized that “there is no shortage.”
The effect of relaxation with H20. With the announcement of the permission to the marketing of the H20 to China, the sales of the B200 and other chips marketed in the black market have fallen, according to several distributors. The reasons are not clear, but buying Nvidia guarantees the aforementioned support as well as a more competitive price. Despite this, there are Chinese distributors announcing stock of the B300, which is not yet manufactured in mass.
Image | Nvidia and Flickr
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