The U.S. government has announced that it will be implementing new rules that aim to restrict even more of NVIDIA’s chips and GPUs from reaching China and other regions that it apparently doesn’t like. Per an SEC filing targeting NVIDIA, dated October 17, some of the new products that the Chinese may find a harder time getting in the weeks or months ahead include the A800 and H800—an AI GPU that NVIDIA was able to get away with selling in China despite initial restrictions due to its lower specs/performance—as well as its latest and greatest gaming GPU, the GeForce RTX 4090. In a press release that was shared by the U.S. Department of Commerce yesterday, the Bureau of Industry and Security explained once again that such rules are being implemented for national security reasons and to prevent advanced AI from being used in ways that the U.S. would be unhappy about.
“Today’s updated rules will increase effectiveness of our controls and further shut off pathways to evade our restrictions. These controls maintain our clear focus on military applications and confront the threats to our national security posed by the PRC Government’s military-civil fusion strategy,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. “As we implement these restrictions, we will keep working to protect our national security by restricting access to critical technologies, vigilantly enforcing our rules, while minimizing any unintended impact on trade flows.”
“Export controls are a powerful national security tool, and the updates released today build on our ongoing assessment of the U.S. national security and foreign policy concerns that the PRC’s military-civil fusion and military modernization present,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan F. Estevez. “BIS will continue to assess the security environment and technology landscape and will not hesitate to act as appropriate.”
“The Bureau of Industry and Security will continue to demonstrate global leadership in the regulation of advanced computing and artificial intelligence technologies. These technologies inherently serve as force multipliers for humanitarian good and also for undermining global security and advancing repression,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Thea D. Rozman Kendler. “By imposing stringent license requirements, we ensure that those seeking to obtain powerful advanced chips and chip manufacturing equipment will not use these technologies to undermine U.S. national security. We will continue to hone these controls as technology evolves so that our technology is not used to threaten global peace and security.”
The Interim Final Rule amends ECCN 3A090 and 4A090 and imposes additional licensing requirements for exports to China and Country Groups D1, D4, and D5 (including but not limited to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, but excluding Israel) of the Company’s integrated circuits exceeding certain performance thresholds (including but not limited to the A100, A800, H100, H800, L40, L40S, and RTX 4090). Any system that incorporates one or more of the covered integrated circuits (including but not limited to NVIDIA DGX and HGX systems) is also covered by the new licensing requirement. The licensing requirement includes future NVIDIA integrated circuits, boards, or systems classified with ECCN 3A090 or 4A090, achieving certain total processing performance and/or performance density.