One of the latest measures taken by Joe Biden was to further restrict the sale to China of semiconductors intended for artificial intelligence. The world's AI must "run on American rails," argued the former White House tenant. The arrival with fanfare of DeepSeek's open source models demonstrated that despite import bans, the most efficient AI could emerge from China.
Nvidia's H20 chips targeted by the White House
The DeepSeek models were calculated on old Nvidia GPUs, combined with a good dose of ingenuity... and probably a lot of copying of OpenAI models! Regardless, it was a bombshell this week, and the advances of DeepSeek (and other Chinese companies yet to come) threaten to undermine America’s very expensive dominance in the AI sector.
The Trump administration nevertheless intends to tighten the noose on chip sales to China. A new batch of restrictions is in the works, according to Bloomberg, and it could include Nvidia’s H20 models. This GPU intended for the Chinese market is a less powerful variant of the H800… which itself was developed in response to a previous crackdown by Joe Biden!
The H20 has been in the crosshairs of US authorities for a while now, with members of the Biden administration having recommended banning its sale in China. While it may not be Nvidia’s business, the chip isn’t necessarily a best-seller: the company even had to lower its price last year.
Nvidia still has some time to turn around, while things get going at the White House. The United States therefore wants to continue to maintain the advantage, but as we saw with DeepSeek, “string” AI can also work miracles.
Source: Bloomberg
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