NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090D Gaming & H20 AI GPUs Can Be Next on US’s Chopping Block For China As 70 TFLOPs Restriction Goes In Affect This Week

As a result of the latest US trade regulations, there may soon be limitations on the import of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4090D Gaming & H20 AI GPUs into China.

Biden Administration Implements Restrictions on GPU Exports, Impacting AI and Gaming Industries

The US government implemented regulations on GPU manufacturers with the intention of preventing the transfer of technology to countries such as China. This resulted in the prohibition of exporting any solution that met a specific level of performance, causing companies like NVIDIA and AMD to feel a sense of urgency due to the loss of a significant market. However, recent reports indicate that the Biden administration plans to extend these regulations even further by targeting products that comply with Chinese standards.

According to reports, the US government’s recently implemented restriction policy, effective April 4, now applies to GPUs with a rated compute performance of over 70 TFLOPs, including NVIDIA’s reduced version of the GeForce RTX 4090D Gaming and their H20 AI GPU. In November 2023, NVIDIA released the GeForce RTX 4090D for gamers and began accepting orders for the H20 AI GPUs in February of that year.

As per ECCN 4A003, the specified products may necessitate obtaining a license. This implies that exporting directly to China and other prohibited countries is currently not an option. The SEC’s documents outline the new policy as follows:

License is required (NLR) for computers with an “Adjusted Peak Performance” (“APP”) not exceeding 70 Weighted TeraFLOPS (WT) and for “electronic assemblies” described in 4A003.c that are not capable of exceeding an “Adjusted Peak Performance” (“APP”) exceeding 70 Weighted TeraFLOPS (WT) in aggregation.

– Security Exchange Commission

The above policy mandates the exportation of all electrical components, such as CPUs and their corresponding NPUs. However, the new restriction of a 70 TFLOP threshold prohibits direct exportation of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4090D GPU and H20 AI GPU. The reason for this licensing requirement remains unknown, but it could be related to the attempts of markets to find alternative ways around the use of China-compliant products. An example of this is the “overclocking”of the GeForce RTX 4090D, which allowed it to match the performance of its original model.

After contacting NVIDIA for an official statement, we will continue to update the story with any new information we receive. It is clear that the sale or exportation of products from NVIDIA and other companies in countries such as China will face challenges in the future. With no indication that the Biden administration will offer any support to manufacturers, these companies may need to consider alternative approaches.

The source for this news is Reuters, as reported on March 29, 2024. The article discusses the updated export restrictions on AI chips to China by the United States.