Don't worry about those new export rules, China – Nvidia's already got more sanctions-compliant GPUs for ya It's been less than a month since the Biden administration effectively barred the export of most American-designed AI accelerators to China, yet Nvidia has already found a way to weave around those rules and get high-ish-end silicon out to the Middle Kingdom. Multiple reports indicate the California chipmaker has three new …
This reminds me of an article in an American motorbike magazine I had long ago read, titled, "The Bikes that Uncle Sam Built". The U.S. government had then just imposed significant new taxes on the importation to America of motorcycles whose engines displaced 600 cubic centimeters or more. The article itself reviewed a trio of new Japanese motorbikes whose engines displaced 599 cubic centimeters.
"Ha-ha-ha, I'm not touching you. You can't do anything to me!" (as child sibling A flicks their finger a hairsbreadth away from child sibling B's forehead.)
(Icon for largely-escaping the bad financial effect of the new rules.)
Always happens.
In the 80s the US banned the import of Japanese LCDs, because US manufacture of LCDs was vital for national security, so Toshiba were forced to develop and import laptops.
To protect Detroit the USA and Japan agreed to limited the number, but not value, of Japanese car imports. The USA knew the Japanese could never build expensive luxury cars like Cadillac, Toyota launched Lexus and catapulted itself to the biggest more profitable car maker for decades.
Ignoring the merits of sanctions, surely if China can only buy a GPU that's a sixth as powerful as they want, they just buy six times as many?
Money's not an issue for the CCP, they just print some more. Clusters become physically bigger and less efficient if using slower GPUs, but again, land, buildings, power are not a problem for state sponsored projects.
Given the price gouging Nvidia and AMD are both engaged (and to some extent, Intel) on graphics cards, they should be rightly terrified that China could easily subsidise the production and sale of large volumes of cards - if they are competitive on performance.
It might not be "official" but if this is not a trade war in full view, then what else is it?
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