Nvidia requires cloud and data center customers to direct at least 51% of services in new contracts to non-Chinese companies
According to FT, Nvidia has told cloud and data center customers that at least 51% of services in newly signed contracts should go to non-Chinese companies. The requirement targets overseas cloud leasing, a path by which Chinese AI developers can use advanced computing power without importing chips, because U.S. export controls generally do not cover remote access. Cloud providers are also required to report the identity of chip end users; earlier this year Nvidia drew up a whitelist that cut the number of Asian customers permitted to buy its AI chips to less than half, and a B300 rack is priced at about $600,000 internationally, with a transaction price in China reaching $2.54 million last month.
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The original text discloses Nvidia's new contract requirements for cloud customers and the mechanism for reporting chip end users, offering insight into the practical constraints on computing power circulation under export controls.
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Nvidia has told cloud and data center customers that at least 51% of their services should go to non-Chinese companies, applying to new contracts only. per FT
That move aims at overseas cloud rental, the route Chinese AI developers use to train on advanced chips without importing them, since US export controls generally don’t cover remote access.
Cloud firms are also asked to report the identities of the chips’ end users, which would let Nvidia see who actually rents its hardware.
Earlier in the year, Nvidia drew up a “white list” and lowered the count of Asian customers cleared to buy its AI chips to less than half. The scarcity appears in pricing: a B300 rack sells internationally for about $600,000 yet went for US$2.54M in China last month, as some report states.