Scrutiny of Nvidia and China's chip access tightens
Washington lawmakers from both parties are pushing for tighter limits on Chinese access to advanced AI chips, aiming to close a loophole that lets Chinese firms rent computing power from overseas data centres. A Reuters review found more than $3 billion in Chinese computing projects built around Nvidia's restricted processors, with a combined reported value above 23 billion yuan. Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang resigned amid a scandal, and interim CEO Colette Kress is being urged to commit the company to decarbonising. Possible measures include licensing requirements for shipments to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.
Key facts
- The Reuters review examined more than 150 Chinese procurement notices, investment plans and corporate disclosures.
- Nvidia's market share in China has dropped to zero, while its technology remains in local government-backed ventures.
- Malaysia has approved 385.7 billion ringgit of data-centre-related investment since 2021, per its trade ministry.
- Thailand had 42 data centres with 3,400 megawatts of IT capacity as of February.
- Research by Will DePue of Unemployment Labs links Moonshot's Kimi K3 and DeepSeek's V4 to Blackwell chips.
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Why it matters
Tighter curbs could shift how Chinese AI developers obtain computing power and where data-centre investment flows in Southeast Asia.
What changed
First published from Hindustan Times, South China Morning Post, Rappler, The Verge and TechCrunch