According to the Wall street Journal, Chinese artificial-intelligence developers have concocted a way to Access and use America’s most advanced chips without bringing them to China. By working with brokers to access computing power overseas and by hiding their identities they can access servers that house Nvidia’s most sophisticated and powerful AI chips.
US export controls restricted sales of those chips to Chinese companies based on concerns they will ultimately be used for military purposes. The tactices now being employed derive from similar activities in the cryptocurrency world. The WSJ article cites one company developed by a former cryptocurrency miner with more than 300 servers with the chips in a data center in Brisbane Australia. It is unclear as to whether the US Department of Commerce might sanction the creator of this company for violation of US export controls. Cloud companies apprently contend that the export rules don’t restrict Chinese companies or their foreign affiliates from accessing U.S. cloud services using Nvidia chips.
The Commerce Department is seeking to prevent malicious foreign entities from using U.S. cloud computing services for activities including training large AI models. U.S. cloud companies argue that the rule won’t prevent abuse and could instead undermine customer trust and weaken their competitiveness.
It is also unclear as to whether Australia might take action to halt the sale of computer power to China.
Jeff Newman JD MBA, represents whistleblowers nationwide relating to Medicare and Medicaid fraud, under the state and federal False Claims Act (Qui Tam) laws as well as whistleblowers in major claims under the SEC, CFTC and FINCEN whistleblower programs. He can be reached at Jeff@JeffNewmanLaw.com or at 866-320-1896
