Nvidia RTX 4090 looks to have escaped China ban as government introduces new restrictions...

[midian182]

In brief: The US government's ban on Nvidia exporting its RTX 4090 to China looks like it's been removed. Restrictions on high-performance GPUs and AI accelerators have come into effect earlier than announced, but the flagship gaming card is missing from the list of affected products.

Rumors that the US was set to further tighten export restrictions on AI accelerators to China proved accurate last week when the Department Bureau of Industry and Security updated the rules. Restrictions on communication speeds, limited to a bidirectional transfer rate of 600 GB/s, were removed; instead, priority was given to those products with a total processing performance of 4,800 or more.

Several more entries were added to the list of items that require export licenses, which are rarely granted, to countries of concern. These included the A800 and H800 that Nvidia created specifically for the Chinese market as their specs met the previous restrictions' requirements. Nvidia wrote in a filing to investors that the RTX 4090 would also be impacted.

Related: Are GPU Prices Going Up Now? October GPU Pricing Update

The new rules were originally set to take place 30 days from the original announcement, but Nvidia wrote in an 8K filing this week that the government has informed the company that the new rules were effective immediately.

Interestingly, the document lists the A100, A800, H100, H800, and L40S products as those impacted by the updated restrictions. There is no mention of the RTX 4090, despite Nvidia's previous warning that the card would fall under the new rules' scope.

One section notes that in addition to the processing power threshold, applicable products must also be designed and marketed for datacenters. The RTX 4090 is a gaming card first and foremost.

Assuming the RTX 4090 definitely is exempt, it's good news for not only Chinese gamers, who have been paying up to four times MSRP for the flagship and struggling to find them in stock, but also the rest of the world, which was also experiencing a slight uptick in prices and lower than normal availability.

As for why the restrictions arrived earlier than first announced, it could be a way for the government to stop Nvidia (and probably AMD and Intel) from massively increasing the number of products it exports to China before the new rules were supposed to come into effect.

Team Green doesn't seem too worried about how this will affect its financial outlook in the short-term, even though Chinese giants such as Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance have orders for billions of dollars' worth of AI-focused GPUs from the company.

"Given the strength of demand for the company's products worldwide, the Company does not anticipate that the accelerated time of the licensing requirements will have a near-term meaningful impact on its financial results," Nvidia wrote in the filing.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/100611-nvidia-rtx-4090-looks-have-escaped-china-ban.html

 

[OortCloud]

I'm sure it is incredibly easy for China to get hold of 4090's given they are a consumer product in the west. I imagine they (along with countless other goods) are quietly slipping back and forth across the huge borders all over China. There is nothing that can really be done to stop this.

 

[yRaz]

I'm sure it is incredibly easy for China to get hold of 4090's given they are a consumer product in the west. I imagine they (along with countless other goods) are quietly slipping back and forth across the huge borders all over China. There is nothing that can really be done to stop this.

Well, China is in the middle of a pretty bad debt crisis so they can't just spend money like they have been. Also, cargo containers are at a premium and China has done a pretty good job of pissing off everyone around them. They don't have the free capital that they use to and their trading partners around them are going to ask a hefty price for "doing them a favor".

But what I think happened is that so many gubbermint officials hold nVidia stock that they don't want to see the price crash. That or they bought the dip and were involved in insider trading.

 

[godrilla]

Just in case anyone was interested on buying the 4090 at $1599 Bestbuy still has them in stock at this price.
by PNY - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 24GB GDDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card with Triple Fan and DLSS 3 - Black
fyi.

 

[wiyosaya]

Its a conspiracy plot to burn down China.

 

[0wed12]

Well, China is in the middle of a pretty bad debt crisis so they can't just spend money like they have been. Also, cargo containers are at a premium and China has done a pretty good job of pissing off everyone around them. They don't have the free capital that they use to and their trading partners around them are going to ask a hefty price for "doing them a favor".

But what I think happened is that so many gubbermint officials hold nVidia stock that they don't want to see the price crash. That or they bought the dip and were involved in insider trading.

China has a total of 35 trillions USD reserve currency. I don't think a few 4090 RTX would make a dent in this reserve.


Also their debt crisis is mostly affecting their real estate sector and even tho they could bail them out, they still decide to not to because of their laws against real estate speculation that put them in.

 

[ApplesOfEpicness]

The document linked only says that the section of the export controls, "applicable to products having a “total processing performance” of 4800 or more..." is being changed to be effective immediately instead of 30 days. It says nothing about the rest of the new controls, so the 4090 is still likely to be restricted when those take effect around Nov. 17th.

 

[havok585]

Well, China is in the middle of a pretty bad debt crisis so they can't just spend money like they have been. Also, cargo containers are at a premium and China has done a pretty good job of pissing off everyone around them. They don't have the free capital that they use to and their trading partners around them are going to ask a hefty price for "doing them a favor".

But what I think happened is that so many gubbermint officials hold nVidia stock that they don't want to see the price crash. That or they bought the dip and were involved in insider trading.

What does China (aka government) has to do with private companies that buy these ? they are not related at all ! They will buy them even with restrictions, that's how business works buddy.

Nothing gets blocked when capital is concerned.

 

[yRaz]

What does China (aka government) has to do with private companies that buy these ? they are not related at all ! They will buy them even with restrictions, that's how business works buddy.

Nothing gets blocked when capital is concerned.

Wasn't talking about the ccp, buddy. Chinese banks don't have any money to loan out right now, there is no investment capital, buddy. With no investment capital businesses can't buy product. That's how business works, buddy