OAKLAND, California – Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) of the United States is offering a new sophisticated chip in China that complies with current export control rules designed to keep cutting-edge tech out of Chinese hands, the company stated on Monday.
Nvidia reacted to Reuters’ report that Chinese computer retailers are promoting products that include the new chip.
The A800 chip is the first disclosed effort by a US semiconductor company to develop sophisticated processors for China that comply with new US trade regulations.
According to Nvidia, the export restrictions could cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars in earnings.
US restrictions enacted in early October efficaciously prohibited Chinese chipmakers from exporting sophisticated microchips and equipment used to manufacture advanced chips, as part of an attempt to stymie China’s semiconductor industry and, by extension, the military.
The US Commerce Department added Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O’s advanced chips, which would include Nvidia’s data center chip A100, to the export control list in late August. Both the Nvidia A800 and the Nvidia A100 are GPUs, or graphic processing units.
These high-tech chips can cost thousands of dollars a piece.
“The Nvidia A800 GPU, that began production in Q3, is yet another option for Chinese customers in addition to the Nvidia A100 GPU.
The A800 meets the evident test for lower export control established by the US government and can’t be programmed to supersede it “According to an Nvidia spokesperson in a remark to Reuters.
Nvidia declined to provide information regarding whether the new chip was discussed with the Commerce Department.
A representative for the Commerce Department declined to answer questions.
At least two Chinese websites by key server manufacturers offer the A800 chip in their offerings. One of those products previously utilized the A100 chip in promotional content.
The A800’s specs were detailed on a distribution company website in China. When compared to the A100, the chip-to-chip rate of data transfer on the new chip is 400 gigabytes per second, down from 600 gigabytes per second on the A100. The new rules limit data rates to 600 gigabytes per second and higher.
“The A800 appears to be a reworked A100 GPU designed to avoid the recent Commerce Department restrictions on trade,” said Wayne Lam, an analyst at CCS Insight, based on the specifications shared by Reuters as well as noting that the number eight is considered lucky in China.
“China is an important market for Nvidia, and it is economically advantageous to transform your merchandise to avoid restrictions on trade,” Lam explained.
Inspur and H3C, two major Chinese server manufacturers that offer servers with the new chips, were unable to respond to requests for comment. Neither did OmniSky, which published the A800 specifications online.
Nvidia has stated that high-end chip sales to China could cost the company $400 million in its fiscal third quarter, which ended in October. A substitute chip could help to mitigate the financial impact. On November 16, the company will release its quarterly results.
