"US Halts AI Accelerator Exports to Middle East... What About Nvidia?"

Export Approval Delays for AI Accelerators Including Nvidia
"Concerns Over Technology Leakage to Chinese Companies"
AMD, Google, MS, and Intel Join Forces to Chase Nvidia

The United States is reportedly putting the brakes on large-scale exports of artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators to countries in the Middle East. This move is interpreted as a precaution against semiconductor technology exported to these countries falling into the hands of Chinese companies. Nvidia, a leader in AI accelerators, is also expected to be inevitably affected.

Bloomberg News reported on the 30th (local time), citing sources, that the U.S. government has recently delayed export license applications for AI accelerators destined for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and other countries.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

AI accelerators are chips specialized for AI training and inference, assembled with graphics processing units (GPUs) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM). In particular, the U.S. government is focusing on the issue of companies like Nvidia and AMD selling AI accelerators on a large scale. This is in light of Saudi Arabia and the UAE recently embarking on large-scale imports of AI accelerators necessary for building AI data centers.

Sources diagnose that the reason the U.S. is delaying export approvals is to secure time to establish a comprehensive strategy regarding the overseas sale of advanced semiconductor devices such as AI accelerators. It is explained that the U.S. government is concerned that Chinese companies, whose access to cutting-edge semiconductors has been blocked due to U.S. sanctions against China, might access advanced semiconductors through data centers in the Middle East.

The U.S. Department of Commerce told Bloomberg, "We are conducting extensive interagency due diligence on advanced technologies as well as thorough reviews of license applications from companies seeking to sell advanced chips worldwide," adding, "We are working closely with partners in the Middle East and around the world to protect the U.S. technology ecosystem." Previously, in October last year, the Department of Commerce announced strengthened semiconductor export controls targeting China and required U.S. companies to obtain separate licenses when exporting semiconductors to over 40 countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where there is a risk of technology transfer to China.

While Nvidia’s AI accelerator exports to the Middle East face restrictions, AMD, Google, Microsoft (MS), and Intel have formed a collaborative organization called the 'Ultra Accelerator Link (UA Link) Promoter Group' to pursue Nvidia. Their goal is to standardize interfaces among AI, machine learning, high-performance computing, and cloud applications to enhance the performance of next-generation AI data centers.

Meanwhile, on the New York Stock Exchange that day, Nvidia’s stock closed at $1,105, down 3.77% from the previous session. Earlier, buoyed by first-quarter (February to April) results that exceeded expectations, Nvidia became the first company to reach the 'Trillion-dollar Nvidia' milestone based on closing price on the 23rd.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.