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US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

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Re: US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

#271
post #256

I guess I don't understand what the point is? A100s are extremely powerful and generally used for ML or mining, right? But mining is already illegal in China and if the PRC wants to do military AI, I'm sure they're capable of building their own super computer without A100s. This isn't banning weaponized ai. It just seems like a minor annoyance to a couple of China's bigger companies who will quickly produce alternati…

AI, mining, and gaming aren't the only use of GPUs in the datacenter, (physical) model simulations are a large use case as well.

Re: US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

#272
post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US government has been setting the ceiling on performance that can be exported since the beginning of the computer industry. This is not really new but NVidia was caught by a surprise change in the limits.

When was this done previously?

Check out the limitations ITAR places on exported electronics.

Re: US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

#273

To me this is a pretty clear message that the US will defend Taiwan with full force.

As a Chinese, what I want to say is that populism here has risen rapidly in recent years, the Thucydides trap has been fulfilled again, and a war is basically inevitable. is the United States determined to deal with this earth war? How much are you willing to pay to protect Taiwan?

Re: US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

#274
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say that like chip fabrication is not the most complicated manufacturing process on earth.

You say that as if it didn't just turn out that China has been producing 7nm chips for at least a year.

Real Question is what yields have they been producing those chips at. Mining chips pay for themselves, so it's not as much of a big deal if your process is bad and only 20% of your wafer is usable. If you want to make a super computer out of chips from a process with 20% yields, then you're spending absurd amounts.

Re: US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

#275

To me this is a pretty clear message that the US will defend Taiwan with full force.

As a Chinese, what I want to say is that populism here has risen rapidly in recent years, the Thucydides trap has been fulfilled again, and a war is basically inevitable. is the United States determined to deal with this earth war? How much are you willing to pay to protect Taiwan?

>is the United States determined to deal with this earth war? How much are you willing to pay to protect Taiwan?

Yes the US is very much determined to win such a war. A free and independent Taiwan is the linchpin of American foreign policy in Asia. America is willing to spend great fortunes in treasure and blood to keep it that way.

Re: US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

#276

To me this is a pretty clear message that the US will defend Taiwan with full force.

As a Chinese, what I want to say is that populism here has risen rapidly in recent years, the Thucydides trap has been fulfilled again, and a war is basically inevitable. is the United States determined to deal with this earth war? How much are you willing to pay to protect Taiwan?

Politicians with donors and special interests to please keep pushing our foreign interventionism. The actual people here in the US don't really want to fight in any wars or instigate conflicts. But a representative democracy is not what we really have here any more.

Re: US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there is no much defense from barrage of cruise missiles on tsmc facilities. Saudis couldn't defend their oil assets from Iran drone attack for example.

Bombing TSMC facilities would be extremely counterproductive to the CCP objectives.

Counterpoint: Wolf Warrior Diplomacy is extremely counterproductive to CCP Foreign Policy and diplomatic goals. It does it anyways.

Re: US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

#279
post #256

I guess I don't understand what the point is? A100s are extremely powerful and generally used for ML or mining, right? But mining is already illegal in China and if the PRC wants to do military AI, I'm sure they're capable of building their own super computer without A100s. This isn't banning weaponized ai. It just seems like a minor annoyance to a couple of China's bigger companies who will quickly produce alternati…

> I'm sure they're capable of building their own super computer without A100s

They are most certainly not capable of doing this without silicon imports. Chinese manufacturing is hopelessly behind for the next decade at least.

Re: US Government Bans Export of Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs to China and Russia

#280
post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US government has been setting the ceiling on performance that can be exported since the beginning of the computer industry. This is not really new but NVidia was caught by a surprise change in the limits.

When was this done previously?

In many (most?) manufacturing industries there is an upper limit on export product performance. If you make steel, there are a bunch of types/grades subject to limits related to their use in nuclear technology. If you make microphones there is a limit on those that might be used in sonar arrays. Certainly all manner of limits exist in aerospace. Even game consoles have been limited (Iran). This is not an unusual regulation.
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