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Nvidia is looking to build a research and development center in Shanghai that helps the main world manufacturer of artificial intelligence processors to stay competitive in China, where their sales have collapsed due to the hardening of the export controls of the United States.
The executive president, Jensen Huang, discussed the plan with the mayor of Shanghai, Gong Zheng, when they were in the Chinese city last month, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Nvidia is renting a new office space in Shanghai to accommodate existing employees, as well as a possible expansion.
According to people with knowledge of the plans, the R&D center investigates the specific demands of Chinese clients and the complex technical requirements necessary to meet Washington’s curbs.
However, the design and production of the royal nucleus abroad, due to legal sensitivity, around the transfer of intellectual property to China. Nvidia said: “We are not sending any GPU design to China to modify to meet export controls.”
The Shanghai team would also work on & D global projects, including the verification of chips designs, the optimization of existing products and the sector’s focus research, such as autonomous driving, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Huang also wants to guarantee access to the main talents of artificial intelligence based in China. NVIDIA currently announces roles based in Shanghai, including engineers to help “guide the development of hardware and next -generation deep learning software”, and “develop and optimize ASIC designs that compete on a global scale.”
The Shanghai government had shown preliminary support for such plans, while Nvidia was pressing the US administration for approaching, said one of the people. Silicon Valley Company has about 2,000 employees in the Chinese city, mainly in related sales and support functions.
Nvidia is expanding her research footprint in China, since she searches for a leadership position in one of her largest markets, where she fears that local competitors led by Huawei can take care of an ecosystem of the rival.
While China represented about 14 percent of NVIDIA’s revenues last year, to approximately $ 17 billion, Huang has estimated that it could be a $ 50 billion market in a couple of years.
“We want to build the AI of the world [where] American standards are being adopted worldwide, “Huang said last week at an event of the Milken Institute. Huawei, for example, is very formidable …
The Trump administration issued a warning this week to US and foreign companies around the world that the use of IA chips manufactured by Huawei could trigger criminal sanctions for considering the export controls of the United States.
Huang flew to Beijing to meet with the Vice Primer Chinese Minister, He Lifeng on April 17, days after new export restrictions were imposed on Nvidia H20 chip, a diluted model that had already been redesigned to meet the controls of the Bides Era to China.
Given the best -selling chips restrictions in China, NVIDIA offers lower L20 extreme chips without high -bandwidth memory and with less computer power to Chinese customers as an alternative, according to people with knowledge of the MOGTER.
It is understood that technological giants doubt in orders because processors cannot compete with rival performance in performance.
“We are in an awkward situation in which we chose a worse nvidia chip that is executed [its software system] CUDA, which means a lower operational cost, or change Chinese in complete chips and live through the pain of switching systems, ”said an executive of a leading Chinese technology firm.
Customers led by Bytedance, Alibaba and Tencent are monitoring geopolitical developments to evaluate if NVIDIA could sacrifice a redesigned high -end chip to meet their needs. While Nvidia was exploring several options, there were no plans completed due to legal uncertainty, people said.
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