A little over a month ago, Nvidia got what seemed impossible: that the United States government would leave him Sell your H20 chip to China. The movement arrived after the prohibition of doing so in April, when a complicated scenario was drawn: that Nvidia entered this year 15,000 million dollars less, according to the company. Everything was going well, until Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce of the United States, left the language.
What Lutnick said. On July 15, just the day after raising the veto to export control over the NVIDIA H20, the US Secretary of Commerce boasted in statements to CNBC That “we do not sell our best things, nor the best best, not even the best thirds.” The comment itself is correct, because the H20 are not up to chips like the NVIDIA H100, H200 either B200. But in Beijing he didn’t like it.
Why it is important. Because as the Financial Timessome leaders have considered the comments insulting, and China has reacted restricting the purchases of the NVIDIA H20, and requires companies that already have purchases agreed with the American technological technology to justify purchases. The result, according to the Financial Times, is that orders are being delayed or reducing. A China Data Center Operator He affirmed That buying chips “is not prohibited, but it has become something politically incorrect.”
According to Bloombergthe Chinese authorities sent notices to national companies to stop using the H20 chips, especially with regard to government -related issues. The administration of the Cyberspace of China (CAC), the National Commission for Development and Reform (NDRC) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) were the agencies that make up a coalition of regulators involved in responding with measures to the comments of Lutnick.
More firewood on fire. The notices of the Chinese authorities are still informal, but they suppose one more escalation in the problems of Nvidia, after the suspicions of the Chinese CAC that They are scamming himwhich led to questioning Nvidia in China to demonstrate that H20 does not represent a threat to interest and security in China. The company has spoken very clearly: “No rear doors“In his chips, but The tension that USA and China live is leaving it without options.
Being able to sell chips in China has cost Nvidia to leave Trump administration 15% of the total income of exports to the Asian country. A huge concession made to improve its commercial position, but that aims not to be enough after the reaction to Lutnick’s comments. China is an essential market for those of Jensen Huang, but the succession of events is transforming it into a nightmare. USA It faces the dilemma to sell Hardware from AI to China or not do so and develop them them. The succession of events points to the second.
The government’s ambition collides with the reality of Chinese companies. The movement to limit the purchase of H20 by the Chinese government also responds to a plan: Prioritize national chips. It forces data centers that belong to the State to use at least 50% of integrated circuits of Chinese origin on their servers. This benefits Huawei, who is already competitive with his Ascend 910D, which seeks to overcome the performance of NVIDIA H100, and with the Ascend 920, which wants to compete with the H20.
However, Production will be limitedand it is the Chinese companies themselves (Tencent, Alibaba and others) that They prefer to use the US company GPUsfor a reason: because its performance is greater. China has its alternative to Cuda, but Nvidia’s weapon remains the undisputed software leader in the AI market. To the point that Chinese companies play it and the NVIDIA GPUs They sweep the black market. The question is whether this phenomenon will continue to occur if China takes tougher measures.
Image | Nvidia and Flickr
In Xataka | China’s three master moves to “independent” technologically from the West: raw materials, chips, AI
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings