BEIJING, November 3 (TMTPost)— U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor giant Nvidia Corporation could lose orders worth of billions of dollar due to the latest chip export control imposed by the Biden administration.
Credit：TMTPost
Nvidia has already completed delivery of its advanced AI chip orders to China and its attempt to deliver some of orders next year in advance was interrupted by the U.S. government’s sudden notification about new export restrictions on AI chip sales, the Wall Street Journal reported. The reported said Nvidia could be forced to cancel next year orders from Chinese buyers. It suggested the company may face a hit of at least $5 billion as orders from major Chinese companies next year exceeded $5 billion.Chinese leading AI and cloud-computing companies including Alibaba Group, TikTok parent ByteDance, and Baidu had made large orders for delivery next year, the report cited people familiar with the matter.
Nvidia has kept warning against U.S. export controls on chips and other advanced technology products. The Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress warned restrictions on AI chip exports to China would lead to “a permanent loss of opportunities for the U.S. industry right after the Wall Street Journal reported late June about looming further chip export curb.
The U.S. Department of Commerce introduced on October 18 a rule entitles “Implementation of Additional Export Controls: Certain Advanced Computing Items; Supercomputer and Semiconductor End Use; Updates and Corrections”, which was going to come into effect following a 30-day public comment period. The agency believes the rules are necessary to maintain the effectiveness of these controls, close loopholes, and ensure they remain durable. The goal is to limit China’s “access to advanced semiconductors that could fuel breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and sophisticated computers,” said the U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo.
Nvidia has modified some of flagship products including A100 and H100 for exports to China, including an alternative A800 chip, as the U.S. regulators last year banned it from selling its most advanced chips to China. But even A800, the weakened version of Nivida’s cutting-edge A100 processor, is not allowed for export without first obtaining a license according to the new restrictions.
Nvidia last week disclosed the U.S. government informed that the licensing requirements of a rule introduced last week, applicable to products having a “total processing performance” of 4800 or more and designed or marketed for datacenters, is effective immediately.
The notification means the United States has skipped a 30-day public comment period and imposed the export control on Nvidia’s products in advance. Nvidia said the licensing requirements immediately impacted shipments of its five graphics processing unit (GPU) products, including A100, A800, H100, H800, and L40S. Nevertheless, the American chipmaker didn’t anticipate the additional restrictions will have a near-term meaningful impact on its financial results, given the strength of demand for its products worldwide. A spokesman for Nvidia earlier this week said the company is seeking additional supply of advanced AI computing system, which use chips affected by the latest rule. The person said that the new export control will not have a meaningful impact in the near future.
Several industry insiders in China expressed their concerns about impact of the new export control rule. They told TMTPost that training of large AI model’s computing in China could fall behind Microsoft-backed OpenAI in the future. TMTPost also learned Tencent and ByteDance had previously purchased H800 GPUs in large quantities, but they have not received any ordered products yet. It is highly unlikely for Nvidia to deliver any A800 GPU, the weakened version of Nivida’s cutting-edge A100 processor, even though Chinese companies place their small orders in the future.
