China export ban: US government puts Nvidia A100 and H100 on the chain

New trade restrictions imposed by the US government could cost Nvidia up to US$400 million, because certain products can go to China and Russia. not exported Will. These mainly include the current professional GPUs of the A100 (Ampere) series, but also the successor H100 (Hopper). AMD is also likely to be affected.

So far, AMD has only heard that it received a similar requirement from US authorities. The manufacturer’s new Instinct MI200 series could be affected by the flagship MI250X, which is part of the strongest Frontier supercomputer in the world. Therefore, the predecessor Instinct MI100 is not affected, write Protocol. However, we will have to wait for more precise statements here.

In the case of Nvidia, the scope of the impact is significantly larger and, in the worst case, could mean a loss of up to 400 million US dollars in the current quarter if they do not extend, renew or even issue the corresponding licenses with the main customers. absolutely. Ampere is not only the brand used almost exclusively in the professional sector, preconfigured systems like the DGX series are also directly affected. And before Hopper’s start, that’s also an opportunity for this generation. the official statement from Nvidia therefore read little pink.

On August 26, 2022, the US Government, or USG, informed NVIDIA Corporation or the company that the US Government has imposed a new license requirement, effective immediately, for any future exports to China (including Hong Kong) and Russia of the company’s products. A100 and upcoming H100 ICs. DGX or any other system incorporating A100 or H100 ICs and the A100X are also covered by the new license requirement. The license requirement also includes any future NVIDIA integrated circuits that achieve peak performance and chip-to-chip I/O performance at or above thresholds that are roughly equivalent to the A100, as well as any systems that include those circuits. A license is required to export technology to support or develop covered products. The US government indicated that the new license requirement will address the risk that covered products may be used or diverted to a ‘military end use’ or ‘military end user’ in China and Russia. The Company does not sell products to customers in Russia.

The new license requirement may affect the Company’s ability to complete its H100 development in a timely manner or support existing A100 customers and may require the Company to transition certain operations out of China. The Company is committed to the USG and seeks exemptions for the Company’s internal development and support activities.

In addition, the Company engages with customers in China and seeks to satisfy their planned or future purchases of the Company’s data center products with products that are not subject to the new license requirement. To the extent a customer requires products covered by the new license requirement, the Company may request a license for the customer, but has no guarantee that the USG will grant waivers or licenses for any customer, or that the USG will act accordingly. . in a timely manner.

The Company’s outlook for its fiscal third quarter provided on August 24, 2022 included approximately $400 million in potential sales to China that may be subject to the new licensing requirement if customers do not wish to purchase the Company’s alternative product offerings or if the US government doesn’t. grant licenses in a timely manner or deny licenses to important customers.

The reasons given are the same as those given by the United States government in recent years when it came to the sensitive issue of high technology. Thus, modern hardware from the Western world could be diverted into the military or used in other circles of a similar nature. The US wants to limit this as much as possible through official channels, but in the end it can’t be completely avoided anyway.

The companies, in turn, also see this as a strengthening of emerging competitors, especially from China itself, which, for example, work with (older) ARM licenses or are now fully developing their own. Although they may not have reached the best level yet, they are already well equipped for many things.