Nvidia warns of Middle East AI export restrictions
Nvidia has warned of further US restrictions on the export of AI technology to the Middle East.
This follows license requirements that, with certain exceptions, impact Nvidia exports to China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and Russia of the A100 and H100 chips and any systems such as DGX or boards which use the chips.
However this has been extended to unspecified countries in the Middle East. There are already export restrictions on shipments to Iran, but US is targeting several unnamed countries.
“During the second quarter of fiscal year 2024, the USG informed us of an additional licensing requirement for a subset of A100 and H100 products destined to certain customers and other regions, including some countries in the Middle East. We have sold alternative products in China not subject to the license requirements, such as our A800 or H800 offerings.
AMD is also subject to the same restrictions, and ARM has warned that its highest performance Neoverse processor cores, used in the latest Nvidia Grace chips, are also subject to export restrictions.
However other AI technology suppliers have key deals in the Middle East and a recent report by pwc sees growth of 20 to 34% in AI in the region to $320bn.
pwc predicts an AI market of $320bn by 2030 in the Middle East
US wafer scale chip developer Cerebras is to ship its Condor Galaxy 1 (CG-1) to G42, the leading AI and cloud company of the United Arab Emirates and is the first in a series of nine supercomputers to be built and operated through a strategic partnership between the two. CG-1 is a 64-node AI supercomputer with 54 million cores and 82Tbytes of data that can deliver 4 exaFLOPs of processing, with a roadmap up to 36 exaFLOPS in 2024, making it one of the most powerful cloud AI supercomputers in the world.
- Cerebras delivers 4exaFLOP AI supercomputer
- ARM flags Neoverse risk of China technology restrictions
- Beware an embargo on AI chips to China, says report
“Given the strength of demand for our products worldwide, we do not anticipate that additional export restrictions, if adopted, would have an immediate material impact on our financial results,” said Nvidia.
Nvidia is working to ensure supply of its chips from other parts of the world, which points to the use of TSMC’s 3nm US fab being built in Arizona.
- TSMC stops work on China AI chip amid sanctions
- Analysis: Arm IPO filing reveals depth of Chinese risk
“While we work to enhance the resiliency and redundancy of our supply chain, which is currently concentrated in the Asia-Pacific, including China, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan, new export controls or changes to existing export controls could negatively impact our business,” said Nvidia.
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