MarcoAntonio Escreveu:Nota: o H20 é um chip da arquitectura Hopper e uma versão "reduzida" do H200, orientado (mais) para a inferência (menos cuda cores, menos memória e largura de banda que o H200), menos para treino de modelos. Tem um desempenho próximo do H100, mas com menos custos energéticos, sendo mais eficiente, e é suplantado pelo H200 e pelos Blackwell (B200, etc), especialmente no contexto do treino de novos modelos AI.
A China tem estado a promover o desenvolvimento de chips chineses (Huawei, especialmente) mas, por enquanto, os chips chineses estão a mostrar-se problemáticos no contexto de treino, limitando a capacidade/velocidade a que os
AI players chineses conseguem desenvolver e treinar
frontier models. Já para a inferência (na prática, a utilização por parte do utilizador final de modelos
já treinados), deverá substituir os chips americanos (nvidia e amd) por domésticos.
Beijing turns against Nvidia’s AI chip after ‘insulting’ Lutnick remarks
Comments by US commerce secretary trigger Chinese regulatory effort to stop tech firms buying H20 processors
Beijing’s move to restrict sales of Nvidia’s China-specific artificial intelligence processor was prompted by remarks from US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick about chip exports that officials found “insulting”.
A group of Chinese regulators have mobilised in an effort to dissuade domestic tech companies from acquiring the H20 — a watered-down processor widely used for artificial intelligence in China.
According to people with knowledge of the regulatory action, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) moved in response to comments made by Lutnick last month.
“We don’t sell them our best stuff, not our second-best stuff, not even our third-best,” Lutnick told CNBC on July 15, the day after the Trump administration lifted export controls, implemented in April, on H20 sales.
“You want to sell the Chinese enough that their developers get addicted to the American technology stack, that’s the thinking,” he added.
Some of China’s senior leaders found the comments “insulting”, leading to the policymakers to seek ways to restrict Chinese tech firms from buying the processors, according to two people with knowledge of the latest regulatory decision-making.
As a result, Chinese tech groups held off or significantly downsized their H20 orders, according to those with knowledge of their plans.
The moves have come as a blow to Nvidia, whose chief executive Jensen Huang last month visited Beijing and committed to stay competitive in the country despite growing geopolitical tensions with the US.
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Chinese regulators have urged more use of domestic chips in recent years, but tech giants from Alibaba to ByteDance argued that their AI development would be impaired without Nvidia’s chips, hurting China’s chance to win the technology arms race with the US.
However, some close to the tech companies said they have now become more accepting of a switch, especially for “inference”, in which AI systems respond to requests from users.
That shift came after testing and adopting chips from domestic producers led by Huawei and Cambricon at a larger scale, following Washington’s initial April ban on exporting Nvidia’s H20s.
“Lutnick’s speech gives the coalition [of regulators] one more reason to intensify its efforts to push tech firms to use China’s own chips,” said a person close to the policymakers.
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Some Chinese tech companies have held off their H20 orders also because they want see if the China specific Blackwell chip, which potentially has better performance than H20, would become available, according to people with knowledge of their thinking.
Some Beijing policymakers are pushing to ban foreign chips altogether for inference, which accounts for most AI demand, according to a person recently summoned for a meeting with them.
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FT