AI chip outfit Graphcore's sales to China hit by US export rules

AI chip developer Graphcore is laying off staff in China after ceasing sales in the country, following the introduction of updated US export restrictions. UK-based Graphcore develops AI accelerators dubbed Intelligence Processor Units (IPUs) along with an associated Poplar software stack, and IPU cloud services. Researchers …

[pimppetgaeghsr]

A long term hollowing out of the middle-class in a temporary effort to keep China's tech behind the US. This is affecting many companies around US and Europe. But don't worry, NVIDIA get's a pass.

[bofh1961]

Collateral damage?

I'm starting to wonder how much America's trade war against China is damaging its allies' economies and why they're going along with it. I know the UK hasn't had an independent foreign policy since the Suez crisis but I thought the rest of Europe did.

[martinusher]

Watch those Talking Points!

If you follow the news then you'll notice that certain stock phrases are always inserted into news articles. This one's no exception, irrelevantly repeating the stock talking point "the US seeks to keep both advanced AI and the technology needed to develop it out of the hands of the Chinese military". This phrase turns up every time there's an article about China and we know it to be untrue -- the main problem, as now stated by our (US) government, is commercial, they seek "to keep China five years behind". This is, as the article points out, hurting "allies" (another grossly overused term -- WW2 finished some 80 years ago) by dimming their commercial prospects by constraining their competitiveness.

Journalists should watch out for these stock phrases because persistent use -- even if its out of context -- acts as a steady drip, drip of misinformation, shaping perception even if what's being pushed is a blatant lie. It lowers their credibility these days since there are so many sources of information out there (not all of them conspiracy theories -- although they might just be somewhat more sophisticated propaganda, who knows?). FWIW the US has been restricting other countries' technologies in its favor for certainly as long as I've been involved in technology (and I'm now retired); the thing that gives the game away are the recycled talking points, year after year, often from the same faces (the same Cold Warriors that were hell bent on protecting us from communism now want to protect us from Chinese cellphones......).

[well meaning but ultimately self defeating]

Just a poor excuse

The company has consistently over promised and under delivered. I imagined they see this as another convenient excuse to cover up their continued failure. My suspicion is they are the walking dead, and we'll see some sort of face saving exit. Most likely suspect is pretty obvious. It looks like a real mess on this side of the pond.