China banned its largest technology companies from buying Nvidia’s AI chips, Beijing’s latest effort to gain global tech dominance over the US.
The order, the Financial Times reported, goes beyond Chinese regulators’ previous guidance for firms not to use another China-specific Nvidia chip. The ban could be a play to push Washington into greenlighting exports of more powerful chips, or to accelerate decoupling from American technology, China analyst Bill Bishop wrote: If Beijing rejects the better Nvidia chips, “that should shut the door on the latest variant of the ‘China fantasy’” — the idea that allowing Nvidia to sell to China keeps the country “addicted” to US tech.
Nvidia’s CEO said the two countries have “larger agendas” to work out.