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Fueled by soaring demand for DeepSeek’s affordable AI models, NVIDIA’s H20 chip has become a sought-after asset in China—prompting concerns over possible new export curbs from the Trump administration. But in a surprising turn, the expected restrictions were put on hold shortly after NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang attended a high-profile dinner at Mar-a-Lago, according to NPR.
Sources told NPR that the new export controls had been in the works for months and were nearly ready to be implemented. The White House’s sudden shift on H20 chip restrictions came after NVIDIA pledged to invest in new AI data centers in the U.S., the report adds.
It is worth noting that despite growing political calls to tighten export controls and include the H20 under broader restrictions, the process has stalled, partially due to a staffing shortage at the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Commerce Department agency tasked with crafting and enforcing these rules, as noted by NPR.
Following the curbs on the company’s AI chips since 2022, NVIDIA introduced H20, the most advanced one it could legally ship to China, in the second quarter of 2024.
The chip, designed to handle inference, a key process that powers AI models, has made it a prized asset among AI companies, as per NPR. Reuters noted that Chinese tech giants Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance have ramped up their orders for NVIDIA’s H20 AI chip back in February due to the growing demand for DeepSeek’s models.
Huawei has tried to work out local alternatives to NVIDIA’s AI chips, as its Ascend 910C, reportedly built on TSMC’s and SMIC’s 7nm, could be a contender against NVIDIA’s H100, as per Wccftech.
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(Photo credit: NVIDIA)
