Chinese internet giants are scrambling to buy high-performance Nvidia chips critical to building artificial intelligence systems in an order worth $5 billion (Rs 41,400 crore), the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Baidu, TikTok parent ByteDance, Tencent and Alibaba have placed orders worth $1 billion (roughly Rs 8,300 crore) from the U.S. chipmaker, the Financial Times reported, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. Purchase approximately 100,000 A800 processors, which will be delivered this year. .
The Chinese group has also reportedly purchased graphics processing units worth $4 billion (approximately Rs 3,310 crore) for delivery in 2024.
An Nvidia spokesman would not elaborate on the report, but said “consumer internet companies and cloud providers invest billions of dollars each year in data center components, often placing orders months in advance.”
Last October, the Biden administration issued a sweeping set of rules aimed at freezing China’s semiconductor industry, while the U.S. pours billions of dollars in subsidies into its chip industry.
Nvidia is supplying its A800 processors in China to satisfy export controls after U.S. officials asked Nvidia to halt exports to China of two of its top computing chips used in artificial intelligence-related work.
The FT report came as President Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that would strictly ban certain U.S. investments in sensitive Chinese technology and require the administration to report on funding in other technology sectors.
Nvidia’s treasurer said in June that restricting exports of artificial intelligence chips to China “will result in a permanent loss of opportunity for the U.S. industry,” though the company does not expect an immediate material impact.
Baidu, ByteDance, Tencent and Alibaba did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from syndicated feeds.)
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