Chinese authorities have clamped down on the deploy of NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs, in spite of these chips having been signed off for US exports ultimate week. Bloomberg reports that officials told domestic companies not to use NVIDIA’s H20 AI GPUs, especially for state and national security projects. The move follows mounting concern over the security risks posed by AI and heightened support for the development of a local industry in China.
The move comes after Chinese cybersecurity agencies probed NVIDIA’s H20 AI GPUs, amid fears over backdoors and location tracking. Although NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs have just started to enter the Chinese market after export restrictions were lifted on July 16 (via nikkei), the earlier buzz was that chips might have entered China through third countries like Singapore and Malaysia.
NVIDIA has flatly shot down those accusations, denying that they have backdoors or tracking features in their GPUs with the NVIDIA H20 AI as currently claimed for and reassuring customers that their equipment is safe from prying eyes and fully compliant within regulations. But despite those assurances, skepticism lingers among Chinese officials, especially regarding sensitive government and security applications.
Of course, this isn’t just an issue with NVIDIA. The MI308 series and AMD’s AI accelerators are also reportedly being looked at. Still, Bloomberg reports these investigations have paid particular attention to the use of NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs with NVIDIA as such a significant player in the world of AI chip making.
This backlash, along with some security worries is also part of a broader Chinese strategy to reduce dependence on foreign technology. Authors encourage companies to use local AI chips led by Huawei The government aims to speed up domestic chip development, even as Huawei’s chips fall behind NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs in raw performance because US sanctions have choked off access to those advanced manufacturing plants.
One of the other big things that plays directly into NVIDIA’s hands is the CUDA software ecosystem, which provides best-in-class tools to get up and running on some really advanced performance optimization kits Huawei is just now scraping through. To be fair, Chinese governments are looking to reduce reliance on NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs as a way of giving the likes of Huawei or other local AI chipmakers some leverage.
The ruling serves as a reversal since, the Trump government had initially stopped H20 purchases to china which was later changed after NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang lobbied with the administration. According to the US request, sales of NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs to China would secure American supremacy in AI hardware but divert business from Huawei.
But the latest push by China for companies to avoid using NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs are almost certainly to crank up the ongoing US-China tech rivalry that could go on and change who competes in creating best technology chips province wide in each of both countries.
FAQs
Concerned that NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs may contain backdoors or tracking mechanisms, China is looking to bolster domestic AI chip development
Indeed, there have been reports that even AMD’s AI accelerator chips are being investigated, but most of the focus is on NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs.
Results were of the order of those shown by NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs, but those glory days are over thanks to US sanctions on Huawei; China is catching up here swiftly aggressively.
