China reportedly considers letting ByteDance and Alibaba buy banned Nvidia chips
China is reportedly considering relaxing controls to let ByteDance and Alibaba import possibly millions of Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 chips over the next year, according to sources involved in the talks who spoke to The Information. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reportedly asked the companies for plans to use the gaming chips in servers supporting AI models. Ars Technica reported the development.
Stephen Witt, author of The Thinking Machine, told NPR that Huang has become Trump’s most influential adviser on technology and that the president’s comments about AI risks echo the executive’s arguments. Critics cited by Ars Technica worry that Nvidia’s commercial interests may be influencing decisions on export controls and AI safety.
Why it matters · editorial interpretation
If approved, the measure would allow ByteDance and Alibaba to import Nvidia chips that are under controls, while China’s ministry assesses their use in AI servers. The case also revives, according to critics cited by Ars Technica, questions about commercial interests influencing export-control and AI-safety decisions.
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