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Nvidia’s stock rose in early Wednesday trading after its CEO Jensen Huang said the company was collaborating with US authorities and market players to develop AI-related chips that comply with new China-export rules.
Huang, who spoke at an AI conference in Singapore, said the revenue impact of the new US limits on tech exports to China was hard to estimate, but he added that the company would seek guidance from both customers and the US government to customize its semiconductors for the $7 billion market.
According to a Reuters report last month, Nvidia had informed customers that it was postponing the launch of the H20 chip until early next year. That is one of three chips it is working on in response to the tightened restrictions on China exports imposed by the Biden administration in October.
The new limits, which build on the export rules introduced last year, aim to prevent China from accessing “advanced semiconductors that could fuel breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and sophisticated computers that are critical to (Chinese) military applications,” US Trade Secretary Gina Raimondo said.
The chip restrictions put in place by the US last year were part of a broader effort to curb China’s technological rise and protect US national security interests. The rules required US companies to obtain a license before selling certain semiconductor products and equipment to Huawei, China’s leading telecom and smartphone maker, as well as other Chinese firms that were deemed to pose a risk. The rules also affected foreign chipmakers that used US technology or equipment in their production, such as Taiwan’s TSMC, which was a major supplier of Huawei. The rules effectively cut off Huawei from its global chip sources and forced it to sell its smartphone unit Honor. The rules also sparked a scramble among Chinese chipmakers to become more self-reliant and reduce their dependence on US technology.
