Nvidia tightens rules on Chinese access to its AI chips

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 7 Nov, 16:24 · Archive

Nvidia is requiring foreign cloud providers to ensure at least 51% of their revenue comes from non-Chinese customers.

Nvidia has imposed new commercial restrictions on foreign cloud providers to limit Chinese access to its advanced AI processors. The company requires cloud computing businesses to ensure at least 51 per cent of their revenue comes from customers outside China before continuing relationships with Nvidia. The Financial Times reported that Nvidia communicated the requirement verbally through sales representatives and regional management teams during summer, applying it to future agreements rather than existing contracts.

The move reflects US government pressure to restrict advanced American chip technology reaching Chinese technology companies through intermediaries and foreign data centres. Nvidia said the policy aligns with longstanding American policy supporting the build-out of American infrastructure worldwide. Meanwhile, The New York Times has raised separate concerns about vetting procedures, reporting that New Matrix, a firm approved to purchase Nvidia's H200 chips in China, operates from an empty office with little evidence of legitimate business operations. Its owners have ties to a Chinese private equity firm blacklisted by the US government since 2024.

How it is being reported

• The US let Nvidia sell chips to an empty office in ChinaConcerns are being raised that neither the Commerce Department nor Nvidia are doing their due diligence when it comes to vetting Chinese firms cleared to handle the company's H200 AI chips. According to The New York Times, New Matrix is on the list of approved firms, yet its offices are empty, "a hollow gray shell […]The Verge · 7 Nov, 15:43
• Nvidia reportedly tells data center customers to trim exposure to the Chinese marketNvidia is requiring foreign cloud providers to serve non-Chinese customers, complicating Chinese access to AI processors through foreign data centers.TechRadar · 7 Nov, 01:25

In this story: Nvidia · China · United States · New Matrix · Financial Times · The New York Times · Commerce Department

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log