(Recasts and updates throughout)
By Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis
Oct 17 (Portal) – Nvidia said on Tuesday that new U.S. export restrictions will block sales of two high-end artificial intelligence chips it developed for the Chinese market and that one of its top Gaming chips will be blocked.
Nvidia disclosed in a filing late Tuesday the impact of the restrictions aimed at preventing Beijing from obtaining cutting-edge U.S. technologies to bolster its military.
Analysts say the new restrictions will also affect competing chips from Advanced Micro Devices and Intel.
In its filing, Nvidia said two of its modified advanced AI chips – the A800 and the H800 – both designed for the Chinese market to comply with previous export rules, would be blocked from sale under the new rules. One of the company’s top gaming chips will be restricted, as will the L40S chip that the company announced in August, it said.
Nvidia declined to comment beyond the filing.
Chips from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices that want to compete with Nvidia will also be affected. Dylan Patel, principal analyst at SemiAnalysis, said Intel’s Gaudi 2 chip, which the company began selling in China in July, would be banned under the new rules. Intel developed a special version of the chip to comply with last year’s rules, the company has said in the past.
Intel declined to comment on the Gaudi 2 chip, saying it was reviewing the new rules.
AMD’s current AI chip, the MI250, could be caught by the tightened controls, according to an analysis by Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon. And it’s likely that AMD’s upcoming MI300 chip will be caught by the new rules, Patel said.
AMD declined to comment.
According to Nvidia, the company may be forced to relocate some business activities from countries that fall within the scope of US export restrictions after the Biden administration on Tuesday expanded restrictions on the export of certain high-end technology.
The chipmaker said the new rules could impact its ability to complete development of certain products on a timely basis, support existing customers of those products or supply customers of those products outside of affected regions. (Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru and Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Leslie Adler)