U.S. Chip Sanctions Slow but Don't Halt China's AI Ambitions

U.S. sanctions aimed at limiting AI chip exports to China are not fully effective, as Chinese companies find ways to access restricted Nvidia A100 and H100 chips.

Nvidia reduced the speed of A100 chips and renamed them A800 to comply with regulations, but the cores are identical.

Cloud sharing providers rent access to full-speed A100 chips, enabling some Chinese companies to bypass sanctions.

Major Chinese tech companies like Baidu and Tencent bought large quantities of Nvidia chips before new restrictions took effect.

Efforts to slow AI progress in China unlikely to succeed unless export restrictions are broadened, negatively impacting Nvidia.