The US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, has called NVIDIA a good partner and said that they share the specs of each AI chip designed for China.

The US Is Looking Into Specs of Each AI Chip Designed For China To See If It Complies With Regulations, Highlights Close Working Relationship With NVIDIA

A few days ago, the US Commerce secretary made some heated remarks over companies trying to circumvent the US regulations and policies for Chinese exports. Almost all major companies such as NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD have some sort of chip solution being used by Chinese firms for AI but it's clear that NVIDIA dominates the market share within the segment not just in China but everywhere you look.

China is a big market for NVIDIA and they know that upcoming financials will take a hit due to US bans. China amounts to close to 25-30% of AI revenue which is huge for the company & since then, NVIDIA has been aiming at other markets such as India, Japan and more recently, Vietnam to extend its AI leadership.

NVIDIA's A100, A800, H100 & H800 GPUs are among the many data center AI & HPC GPUs that have been banned in China. (Image Source: NVIDIA)

In an interview with Bloomberg, Gina Raimondo said that they are looking into every AI chip, including their specs to see if they make the cut for China. It's not just NVIDIA's chips but all chips for that matter that the US Commerce Department is keeping an eye out for but she also stated that NVIDIA is a "Great Partner" and they have a long working relationship with them. She also stated that NVIDIA shares information for every chip they are making.

“We look at every spec of every new chip, obviously to make sure it doesn’t violate the export controls,”.

“We talk to Nvidia regularly, and I should say they’re a good partner,” she added. “We have a close working relationship with them. They share information.”

Gina Raimondo (US Secretary of Commerce) via Bloomberg

This is in regards to the upcoming Data Center AI lineup which was recently confirmed by the company. There is a trio of chips that NVIDIA is working on for China which includes the HGX H20, L20 PCIe, and L2 PCIe. These are designed to be a replacement for the H200, L40, & L4 which were banned from sales and exports to China after the recent US regulations passed.

NVIDIA is working on the RTX 4090 D as the flagship gaming solution for the Chinese markets. Image Source: Wccftech

In addition to the data-specific chips, NVIDIA is also working on replacements for the more consumer-centric RTX card such as the RTX 5880 and RTX 4090 D which would replace the RTX 6000 Ada & RTX 4090. The US Secretary of Commerce also said that she spoke to NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, last week who was fully cooperative in working with the US Government and following the rules and regulations:

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, speaking in an interview with Reuters on Monday, said Nvidia "can, will and should sell AI chips to China because most AI chips will be for commercial applications."

"What we cannot allow them to ship is the most sophisticated, highest-processing power AI chips, which would enable China to train their frontier models," she added.

Raimondo said she spoke a week ago to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and he was "crystal clear. We don't want to break the rules. Tell us the rules, we'll work with you."

Gina Raimondo (US Secretary of Commerce) via Reuters

This makes the recent reports that the several GPUs are on track for launch in early 2024 more believable and it's good to know that the dust is finally settled on NVIDIA's AI chips following US regulations. We will keep you updated on future developments of the US regulations and export policies as they change.