Tech war: Nvidia offers new GPU chip tailored for Chinese market as it vows to comply with US export regulations
- In August, Washington banned Nvidia from selling the A100 and its more powerful H100 data centre GPU to China-based customers without a licence
- Nvidia has played a pivotal role in supplying the chips that power China’s progress in artificial intelligence (AI), data analysis and high performance computing
US graphics card giant Nvidia is offering a new chip specially-designed for the Chinese market, which will allow it to continue to sell its products to customers in China while still complying with new US export control requirements, the company said.
The new A800 graphic processing unit (GPU) is an alternative to its A100 chip that the US government has barred from sale to Chinese clients without approval. Reuters first reported the existence of the new product, which was later confirmed by the Santa Clara-based Nvidia.
“The Nvidia A800 GPU, which went into production in Q3, is another alternative product to the Nvidia A100 GPU for customers in China,” an Nvidia spokesman said in a statement. “The A800 meets the US government’s clear test for reduced export control and cannot be programmed to exceed it.”
In August, Washington banned Nvidia from selling the A100 and its more powerful H100 data centre GPU to China-based customers without a licence, as part of a larger US effort to ramp up controls on China’s access to advanced chips.
Nvidia’s latest product is a sign that the company is trying to balance commercial interests with Washington’s strategic containment of China. The country accounts for about one quarter of Nvidia’s total gross sales. Third-quarter sales losses from the ban were estimated at about US$400 million, the company said earlier.
A Beijing-based chip distributor told the South China Morning Post that it has already started promoting the A800 to Chinese clients as an alternative to the A100, which was introduced in 2020.
Nvidia has played a pivotal role in supplying the chips that power China’s progress in artificial intelligence (AI), data analysis and high performance computing. As such, the US ban dealt a heavy blow to the country’s ability to develop sophisticated AI models, which are trained using powerful processors from US suppliers such as Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, as well as GPUs from Nvidia.