Nvidia Builds Toned Down Microchips to Be Sold in China

Hardware giant Nvidia, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of microchips and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), has released a new, slightly less powerful version of its mainstream chips to comply with restrictions on microchip sales in China.

New U.S. trade rules prohibit companies from selling microchips with a chip-to-chip transfer rate of 600 gigabytes per second or higher.

Nvidia has responded by creating a toned-down version of its A100 GPU (known for its use in the supercomputers that power AI systems like ChatGPT) that complies with the new trade restrictions, which are designed to stop the Chinese military from technologically surpassing its rivals.

The A100 operates at 600 gigabytes per second, meaning it cannot be sold in China. Nvidia’s new A800 chip, purpose-built to comply with the regulations, runs at 400 gigabytes per second.

Via Reuters:

In late August, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O both said that their advanced chips, including Nvidia’s data center chip A100, were added to the export control list by the U.S. Commerce Department. The Nvidia A800 can be used in place of the A100 and both are GPUs, or graphics processing units.

Such advanced chips can cost thousands of dollars each.

“The Nvidia A800 GPU, which went into production in Q3, is another alternative product to the Nvidia A100 GPU for customers in China. The A800 meets the U.S. Government’s clear test for reduced export control and cannot be programmed to exceed it,” a Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.

The U.S. is building an international coalition to choke off China’s supply of advanced microchips, which are a critical component of virtually every modern computing system, making them essential to power the latest military technology.

The government of the Netherlands, which along with Japan is essential to cutting off China’s supply, recently announced it would introduce its own restrictions on microchip sales to China, joining the U.S.-led effort.