AI (Artificial Intelligence) chip giant Nvidia will provide a series of new products for the Chinese market.
On December 6th local time, Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun stated in an interview with reporters in Singapore that the company will continue to develop a series of new products that comply with the US government's regulations on exporting high-end chips to China, and stated that Nvidia may make significant investments in Singapore.
Huang Renxun stated that the Chinese market has always accounted for about 20% of Nvidia's total sales, and the company will continue to "fully comply" with US government trade regulations: "Nvidia has been closely cooperating with the US government to produce products that comply with its regulations. Our current plan is to continue working with the US government to launch a series of new products that comply with the new regulations and are subject to certain restrictions."
For Chinese customers located in Singapore, Huang Renxun stated that Nvidia will maintain supply. According to regulatory documents, sales to Singaporean customers (including Chinese companies) accounted for approximately 15% of Nvidia's total revenue in the three months ending in October this year.
Huang Renxun also stated that the competition in the AI accelerator market is currently very fierce: "Most competitors actually don't care where we go, they will compete with us wherever we go."
During his visit to Singapore, Huang Renxun met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to discuss Singapore's competitive strategy in the global AI competition. Huang Renxun told the media that the company is in negotiations with the Singaporean government regarding potential large-scale investments in the future, and Nvidia is collaborating with the Singaporean government to help develop a large language model called "Sealion".
Just two days ago, on December 4th, Singapore released the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2.0, proposing to double the number of its AI practitioners to 15000 by training local talents and recruiting talents from overseas. Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Huang Xuncai said, "Singapore believes in the long-term potential of AI, and our desire is to fully utilize its capabilities to improve our lives."
Last October, the US government announced the implementation of initial export restrictions on artificial intelligence chips. Nvidia is unable to provide A100 and H100 artificial intelligence processors to the Chinese market, and has specially supplied A800 and H800 for the Chinese market to comply with relevant policies.
On October 17th, the US Department of Commerce issued a series of new chip export restrictions, expanding the definition of advanced artificial intelligence chips and imposing additional licensing requirements on chip products shipped to over 40 countries to avoid resale to China. The new restrictive measures are scheduled to take effect on November 16th.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning emphasized at a regular press conference that China has repeatedly expressed its position on US chip export controls against China. The United States should stop politicizing, instrumentalizing, and weaponizing economic, trade, and technological issues, and stop disrupting the stability of the global supply chain. China will closely monitor relevant trends and resolutely safeguard its own rights and interests.
In early November, some media reported that Nvidia had developed the latest computing power series chips for the Chinese market, which were redesigned from H100 and could comply with relevant US regulations.
On November 21st, Nvidia released its third quarter financial report for the 2024 fiscal year ending October 29th, which clearly stated that it expects the next quarter's performance to be negatively affected by US chip export restrictions. Nvidia executives revealed during a post earnings conference call that the company is developing new data center products that comply with US government policies and do not require licenses. A supply chain insider once told Paper that they may receive the sample card as early as mid December.
Prior to his visit to Singapore, Huang Renxun had just held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, Japan. He stated that Nvidia would collaborate with Japanese companies such as SoftBank to develop generative AI and would prioritize meeting Japanese chip demand. Next, Huang Renxun will also travel to Malaysia within this week.