Move over, drugs: Nvidia chips are the hot new thing to smuggle
The feverish competition to train ever-more-powerful AI models has led to the world’s top tech companies to spend billions of dollars hoarding Nvidia’s powerful H100 GPUs.
But US export controls prevent the H100 and other hot chips from being exported to China and Russia, citing national security concerns.
Still, that hasn’t stopped Chinese companies from getting their hands on these GPUs. A report from The Information sheds light on the scale of the AI chip-smuggling industry that has emerged to bypass these export controls. Using shell companies and chip brokers, thousands of the the GPUs are making their way to China, after being sold for a steep markup.
Still, that hasn’t stopped Chinese companies from getting their hands on these GPUs. A report from The Information sheds light on the scale of the AI chip-smuggling industry that has emerged to bypass these export controls. Using shell companies and chip brokers, thousands of the the GPUs are making their way to China, after being sold for a steep markup.
