A leading Republican voice has expressed concerns regarding the resumed shipments of Nvidia's H20 chips to China, arguing that this move could significantly bolster China's AI capabilities. The representative voiced his concerns in a letter to the Commerce Secretary, stating that the original ban on these chips was appropriate. He suggests that allowing China access to these chips could undermine America's advantage in AI and potentially enable Chinese companies to dominate the global AI model market.
The H20 chip, while less powerful than Nvidia's top-tier offerings, remains highly competitive for AI inference tasks and could also be utilised in supercomputers. The legislator highlighted evidence suggesting Chinese firms are already employing H20 chips to construct powerful AI systems. Nvidia has stated that the US government has assured them that licenses will be granted for exporting the H20 chip.
This reversal of export restrictions, initially imposed to safeguard national security, has sparked debate among US legislators. While Nvidia defends the decision as beneficial for American technological leadership and economic growth, critics fear it could empower China's military and technological ambitions.
