Opinion | US export controls have fuelled China’s AI development
Beijing seems determined to take up the challenge of building most parts of the AI supply chain domestically
The White House’s artificial intelligence (AI) tsar, David Sacks, said that China is rejecting H200s, and the Financial Times reported that China is set to limit access. Meanwhile, China has added domestic AI chips to its official procurement list for the first time, and it is considering the largest-ever state-backed semiconductor incentives programme conceived in history.
Notwithstanding reports that Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the Post, and ByteDance plan to buy H200s, Beijing’s disposition is unmistakable: for self-reliance, buy local AI chips and systems.
While the procurement list addition indicates confidence in Chinese AI systems, the government and relevant stakeholders know such systems are not there yet. So while it is unlikely that there will be a total ban on H200s, the window for importing Nvidia’s chips may be closing.
Constraints unleashed by US export controls have helped drive significant leaps in Chinese AI systems. Former US national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s doctrine held that the US should maintain “as large of a lead as possible” in key technologies. Export controls were a key strategy aimed at delaying Chinese AI progress.