Chinese Alibaba and Tencent have found a way to circumvent US sanctions that limit access to advanced AI chips. Instead of directly importing prohibited equipment, companies gain access to it in the United States.
Such actions allow Chinese companies to use NVIDIA chips in their DATE centers in the United States, which avoids obvious sanctions. Information came from insiders and was published in The Information.
Alibaba and Tencent are negotiating with NVIDIA about the possibility of using sanctioned chips in their American data centers. China Telecom also discusses with cloud providers access to high-performance AI equipment. By Tedance, the owner of Tiktok, rents the best Nvidia chips from his American partner Oracle.
Of all the mentioned companies, only NVIDIA has provided an answer – the company supports the creation of new data centers in the United States, which contributes to the development of a computing ecosystem and creating jobs. NVIDIA noted that all customers of data centers in the United States must comply with the current laws, including export control and restrictions on unlawful use.
The United States has been conducting the so-called “chip war” for several years, imposing sanctions in order to prevent advanced chips and equipment for their production in China. However, sanctions do not always mean complete observance. For example, Huawei has been repeatedly convicted of the use of loopholes to obtain access to advanced chips and equipment for their production.
Biden administration is actively developing the American chips industry, trying to go around China in the production of advanced semiconductors. According to forecasts, in 2032, the United States will have 28% of the global semiconductor market, and the share of China will only be 2%. Even taking into account possible loopholes, sanctions will greatly complicate the development of the Chinese chip industry.
The inaccessibility of advanced chips enhances China’s desire for this technology, which leads to new ways to bypass sanctions, such as the use of chips in the United States. It is unclear whether Chinese companies violate the law, or they just found another loophole.