{"text":[[{"start":10.92,"text":"Nvidia is ordering its data centre partners to reduce exposure to Chinese customers in a move that further restrains China’s ability to keep up with US rivals as the race between the world’s two AI superpowers intensifies."}],[{"start":24.68,"text":"In recent months, the world’s largest chipmaker has told cloud computing clients that they must now sell at least 51 per cent of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. There had been no previous restrictions."}],[{"start":40,"text":"The instructions have been communicated verbally and carried out by Nvidia’s sales force and regional teams rather than spelt out in documents, the people said."}],[{"start":48.98,"text":"The move means Chinese tech companies now face a new threat to their AI ambitions as Washington moves to further restrict their access to advanced US chips through overseas cloud computing deals. Many Chinese groups have previously relied on such leases for advanced AI tasks, including model training."}],[{"start":67.72,"text":"These additional compliance rules apply to Nvidia’s clients globally and not just data centres in Asia, two of the people said. They only affect future contracts and not existing leasing agreements, however."}],[{"start":79.76,"text":"Nvidia said: “Datacenters and clouds built on American chips are the foundation that American model and application makers need to compete worldwide. Longstanding US policy encourages every cloud to build on American infrastructure and to win business everywhere they can. America’s longstanding policy has always supported the build-out of American infrastructure worldwide, bringing prosperity, influence, and jobs home.”"}],[{"start":104.8,"text":"The US is seeking to clamp down on both intermediaries that have helped create a thriving black market for Nvidia’s chips in China, as well as Chinese companies’ access to advanced chips overseas through leasing deals outside the country."}],[{"start":118.12,"text":"Cloud providers are struggling to comply with the new requirements because it is “difficult to find enough non-Chinese clients outside the US”, said one Singapore-based group. “If strictly implemented, it will definitely hurt business.”"}],[{"start":131,"text":"Nvidia’s crackdowns have also created a mounting shortage of advanced computing power for Chinese tech companies."}],[{"start":137.48,"text":"A rack of Nvidia’s B300 chips, which sells for about $600,000 internationally, last month fetched Rmb18.5mn ($2.8mn) in China due to their scarcity, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal."}],[{"start":153.68,"text":"The B300, which is not allowed to be sold in China due to US export controls, is one of Nvidia’s most advanced products and is used by leading American AI players such as Anthropic and OpenAI."}],[{"start":167.12,"text":"Nvidia has already more than halved the number of Asian customers authorised to buy its AI chips after this year creating a “white list” of companies that have passed tougher compliance checks aimed at preventing the products from reaching China."}],[{"start":180.54,"text":"That meant fewer advanced Nvidia chips entered China via smuggling and forced more Chinese tech groups to pursue leasing deals with overseas cloud providers."}],[{"start":190.64,"text":"The US and China are by far the two largest sources of demand for computing power, while Chinese tech groups have been the biggest clients for data centres in markets such as south-east Asia."}],[{"start":202.08,"text":"Nvidia’s move has also led to data centres outside the US scrambling for clients that are not Chinese. They could be forced to shrink the scale of their operations if they cannot do so."}],[{"start":212.18,"text":"Nvidia shares have fallen more than 13 per cent in the past month but remain 7 per cent higher this year. The recent dip in the stock means Jensen Huang’s group has been overtaken by Apple as the world’s most valuable listed company."}],[{"start":232.68,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793689499_2368.mp3"}