Uncle Sam Puts the Brakes on AI Chip Shipments from Nvidia and AMD to Certain Middle East Spots

Hold onto your hats, folks! The big cheese, the U.S., has now cranked up the dial on limiting those high-tech Nvidia and AMD AI chips. And guess what? It’s not just China anymore; some spots in the Middle East are on the list too.

You see, Nvidia spilled the beans in a recent report, chatting about these brakes on their A100 and H100 chips. These bad boys jazz up machine learning like nobody’s business. But, even with these bumps on the road, Nvidia gave us a wink and said, “Don’t sweat it, it won’t dent our wallet too much.”

But here’s the juicy bit: AMD got the same memo! Yep, someone in the know spilled that piece of news to Reuters. And, guess what? AMD’s giving a shrug and saying this hiccup won’t hurt their cash flow either.

Typically, U.S. bigwigs hit the brakes for “keeping the home safe,” if you catch my drift. They played this card with China last year, trying to keep a lid on their tech mojo. But this time, the why for the Middle East is still up in the air.

Adding their two cents, Nvidia chimed in that while this new rule is there, it’s not shaking their money tree much. They’re rolling up their sleeves and chatting with the U.S. honchos to iron things out.

So, I rang up the U.S. Commerce Department, the folks who usually cook up these rules. Crickets! No word back. Yet.

Now, rewind to last year. AMD dropped a bomb saying their MI250 AI chip shipments to China hit a roadblock. Since that little episode, the tech big shots, including Nvidia, AMD, and their buddy Intel, brainstormed and sketched out plans for simpler, less sassy AI chips for the Chinese playground.

Diving into the nitty-gritty, Nvidia didn’t really spill why this new curveball was thrown. But a little birdie told them last year that Uncle Sam was getting antsy about these products being used for some “military shenanigans” in China.

And while Nvidia’s keeping mum about which Middle East countries are in the mix, a quick peek shows their sales mostly coming from the U.S., China, and Taiwan. A tiny slice, just about 13.9%, comes from other spots around the globe.

Fast-forward to this year, and the plot thickens. There’s chatter about Taiwan, the hot spot where almost every big chip company does their magic. And if that’s not spicy enough, last October, the U.S. played hardball, drawing a thick line in the sand against China on some chip trades. That move? Well, it felt like the U.S. trying to slow down China’s growing tech and military muscles.

Following the leader, Japan and the Netherlands jumped on the bandwagon with their own rules. And, here’s the kicker: without these snazzy American AI chips from the likes of Nvidia and AMD, China might be in a jam. Those chips are the secret sauce behind cool stuff like your phone chatting back or tagging your latest selfie. But they’ve also got a serious side, like hunting for hidden weapon stashes from space or sifting through digital chit-chat for some top-secret stuff.

So, there you have it! The tech tango continues, and only time will tell where this rollercoaster is headed. Stay tuned, folks!