Nvidia halts the export of top AI Chips to China

Nvidia Corp will be halting the export of two top computing chips for AI work to China. This move can affect the Chinese firms’ advanced tech work. This could also harm Nvidia Group’s brand positioning and business in the country.

There are speculations surrounding the news that the announcement is an escalation of the U.S. crackdown on China’s advanced tech capabilities over the fate of China. Taiwan is the place where a majority of significant chip firms, including Nvidia Group, are manufactured.

Sharp fall on shares

After the ban, Nvidia experienced a 6.6% fall in shares. Nvidia shared that the ban on A100 and H100 chips is capable of speeding up ML tasks and now the ban can interfere with the completion of manufacturing H100, which is the flagship product of Nvidia. The ban has also affected the rival firm (AMD) Advanced Micro Devices Inc. where the shares fell by 3.7%. The new license requirements will stop the MI250 AI chips from being exported to China but AMD believes that MI100 chips will not be affected.

Comments by the officials

“While we are not in a position to outline specific policy changes at this time, we are taking a comprehensive approach to implement additional actions necessary related to technologies, end-uses, and end-users to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” a media statement released by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s spokesperson.