“During the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 (the three months to July 30), the US Government 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,” Nvidia mentioned in a US submitting.
One senior US commerce lawyer mentioned the restrictions had been probably to take the shape of an “is informed” letter from the US Bureau of Industry and Security, which forces US corporations to safe approval to export to sure nations or prospects on nationwide safety grounds.
“There will be a concern that they would be diverted to China from customers in the Middle East,” the lawyer mentioned.
He added that Chinese corporations could also be in search of to devise AI techniques on abroad pc techniques as a result of of a scarcity of high AI chips within the nation.
“They [the US] are concerned not just with exports of chips to China, but the ability of Chinese companies to train their AI software outside of China and bring it back to China.”
Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are spending thousands and thousands shopping for hundreds of Nvidia chips, generally known as graphics processing models (GPUs), in an effort to enhance the oil-rich states’ tech sectors.
Saudi Arabia’s communications minister Abdullah bin Amer Al-Sawaha signed a strategic partnership plan with China final yr that included a pledge to co-operate intently on synthetic intelligence.
The White House blocked Nvidia from promoting its high AI chips to China final yr, the newest in a sequence of semiconductor restrictions designed to cease Beijing creating superior AI that could possibly be utilized in weapons or cyber assaults.
The firm has redesigned some of its chips to meet the necessities, though the White House is reportedly making ready to ban these as nicely.
It has mentioned the restrictions would completely hamper American corporations’ potential to compete in China.
A spokesman for Nvidia mentioned: “The licensing requirement referenced in our 10Q doesn’t affect a material portion of our revenue, and we are working with the US government to address it.”
A UAE spokesman mentioned the nation has a “legal export control framework and is continuously monitoring the export of dual-use products”.
The Saudi embassy didn’t reply to requests for remark.
