China accesses Nvidia AI chips despite US export restrictions
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's admitted affair with a Chinese executive has highlighted how Beijing obtains advanced microchips.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has admitted to an affair with a Chinese executive at a Singapore-based firm, which the United States suspects of smuggling artificial intelligence microchips into China, according to The Hindu.
The scandal has drawn attention to how China obtains cutting-edge chips despite Washington banning the export of top-end Blackwell and Rubin Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to the country due to security concerns.
Lian Jye Su, a chief analyst at Omdia, told AFP that Chinese vendors continue to use advanced Nvidia chips to train their models despite existing controls.
Stephen Wu, founder of the Carthage Capital investment fund, explained to AFP that US export controls restrict where a chip is shipped rather than who uses it.
Wu noted that Nvidia GPUs can remain in compliance while sitting in regions like Johor, Malaysia, even if a customer in Shenzhen logs in to use them.
White House adviser Michael Kratsios stated this summer that Moonshot AI had accessed high-end Nvidia chips in Thailand. Additionally, The Information reported that DeepSeek developed a new model using thousands of chips brought into China after being dismantled overseas.