While the administration of Joe Biden is in talks with Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) on the legality of selling AI chips to China, the company has made it clear that it will not sell China its most cutting-edge processors.
In a Monday interview with Reuters, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated that Nvidia “can, will and should sell AI chips to China because most AI chips will be for commercial applications.” “What we cannot allow them to ship is the most sophisticated, highest-processing power AI chips, which would enable China to train their frontier models,” according to her.
According to Raimondo, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was “crystal clear” when she spoke with him a week earlier. There should be no rule-breaking on our part. Leave the regulations to you, and we will collaborate.
During a meeting in California last week, Raimondo warned chip companies about artificial intelligence processors. According to her, in the past, Nvidia and other businesses would develop new chips “just below” the “cutline” that Commerce would draw. “That’s not productive,” Raimondo remarked. “I am telling you, if you redesign a chip around a particular cutline that enables them to do AI, I am going to control it the very next day.”
The department is collaborating with Nvidia, Raimondo said on Monday. “They intend to act morally. Their goal is to maximize chip sales. There are no words from Nvidia on this. Huang, the company’s CEO, said last week that they were working tightly with the U.S. government to ensure that new chips for the Chinese market would not violate export restrictions. In a separate statement, Raimondo stated that it was premature to determine the success or failure of the August-established commercial problems working group with China.
The joint venture between MasterCard and China’s central bank was licensed in November, and the $69 billion acquisition of cloud-computing giant VMware by Broadcom (AVGO.O) was also approved in China. These were what she referred to as “baby steps in the right direction.”
Among Raimondo’s complaints was that Chinese airlines still needed to begin accepting planes from Boeing (BA.N). More than four years after the two fatal disasters that grounded the 737 MAX, Boeing has yet to resume delivering the aircraft to Chinese carriers. Boeing chose not to comment. U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly brought up Boeing during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California last month, according to Raimondo.
“We will continue to exert pressure,” Raimondo declared. “There is no reason they shouldn’t make good on that commitment.”
Raimondo separately urged Congress to enact laws to address the possible dangers posed to national security by foreign apps such as TikTok. The administration’s efforts to resolve security concerns around apps controlled by foreign entities have been hindered by legislation.
“The tools are essential,” Raimondo remarked. There are many reasons why we shouldn’t get involved in the business of naming corporations, but it should not merely mean banning TikTok. Nowadays, it’s all about TikTok. Who can say what the future brings? According to TikTok, there is no threat to national security.
