Nvidia has defended itself against recent criticism over a decision by President Donald Trump's administration to grant licences to the company to sell its H20 graphics processing unit (GPU) to China.
The response comes after a group of Democratic senators on Monday urged the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who largely crafts export policies, to reverse course on the licences.
The lawmakers said a decision to sell H20 chips to China was "an abrupt departure" from the administration's position in April that Beijing's access to the processors posed a serious national security risk.
"And it undermines the administration's recent Al Action Plan, which purports to strengthen export control efforts on Al compute,” the letter states, referring to Mr Trump's AI strategy that included 90 federal policy actions.
The senators also warned that such policy reversals would bolster China's push to use AI to “strengthen military systems”.
The letter is the latest in a back-and-forth battle over how to best protect and promote US AI technology.
“The H20 helps America win the support of developers worldwide, promoting America's economic and national security,” an Nvidia representative told The National.
“It does not enhance anyone’s military capabilities, and the US government has full visibility and authority over every H20 transaction.”
Shortly after a trip to Beijing this month, Nvidia's chief executive Jensen Huang highlighted the Trump administration's assurances about resuming sales of the H20 to China, and said deliveries would begin soon.
The H20 is designed to comply with US regulations that seek to prevent powerful AI technology from being used by countries it views as adversaries. But in recent years, and particularly during former president Joe Biden's administration, the US has sought to clamp down on the export of AI technologies to a greater degree, especially CPUs and GPUs, which have become critical for countries seeking to build up AI infrastructure.
Nvidia came out in January against the stronger export controls proposed by Mr Biden, saying these undermined US leadership in AI with a “regulatory morass”.
Since his inauguration, Mr Trump has taken a softer approach to AI-related export controls. Recent deals announced with the UAE to build an AI data centre, which also included security stipulations to prevent the potential diffusion of US technology to adversarial countries, was widely seen as a win for US technology companies that have largely opposed strict export policies.
Despite efforts in recent years to prevent the diffusion of US AI technology, some analysts have cast doubt on the effectiveness of the overall policy.
A new report from Jefferies, an investment banking and capital market firm based in New York, indicated that strict US export policies had prompted China to recalibrate and build up its own chip-making capability, with companies like Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation making strides.
Regardless, in their letter to Mr Lutnick, the senators maintained that “restricting access to leading-edge chips has been the defining barrier for China's efforts to achieve Al parity”, expressing concern that the Trump administration would make further exceptions to loosen various export policies it once advocated.
“This administration is permitting adversaries access to technologies critical to national security as part of trade discussions without consultation or input from Congress,” they wrote.
A spokesperson with the US Department of Commerce said Biden administration didn't impose “any restrictions on the H20 whatsoever and they flowed freely into China,” adding that the Trump White House was the first to implement a licence requirement for the exports to Beijing.
“The Trump administration will consider any H20 licence applications carefully, accounting for both the benefits and the costs of potential exports from America and considering the views of experts across the US Government,” the Commerce Department spokesperson told The National.
White House officials have recently indicated that policies seeking to prevent the export of US AI technology might ultimately backfire.
“We don't want to create demand for Huawei,” White House AI chief David Sacks said during a round-table discussion at the Pennsylvania Energy and AI Summit.
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Crawley Town 3 (Tsaroulla 50', Nadesan 53', Tunnicliffe 70')
Leeds United 0
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
The Case For Trump
By Victor Davis Hanson
HEADLINE HERE
- I would recommend writing out the text in the body
- And then copy into this box
- It can be as long as you link
- But I recommend you use the bullet point function (see red square)
- Or try to keep the word count down
- Be wary of other embeds lengthy fact boxes could crash into
- That's about it
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Indoor Cricket World Cup Dubai 2017
Venue Insportz, Dubai; Admission Free
Day 1 fixtures (Saturday)
Men 1.45pm, Malaysia v Australia (Court 1); Singapore v India (Court 2); UAE v New Zealand (Court 3); South Africa v Sri Lanka (Court 4)
Women Noon, New Zealand v South Africa (Court 3); England v UAE (Court 4); 5.15pm, Australia v UAE (Court 3); England v New Zealand (Court 4)
Squads
Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Babar Azam (vc), Abid Ali, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hasnain, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz
Sri Lanka: Lahiru Thirimanne (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Avishka Fernando, Oshada Fernando, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dasun Shanaka, Minod Bhanuka, Angelo Perera, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Isuru Udana, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
The five pillars of Islam
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
If you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Chicago from Dh5,215 return including taxes.
The hotels
Recommended hotels include the Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile, located in an iconic skyscraper complete with a 1929 Olympic-size swimming pool from US$299 (Dh1,100) per night including taxes, and the Omni Chicago Hotel, an excellent value downtown address with elegant art deco furnishings and an excellent in-house restaurant. Rooms from US$239 (Dh877) per night including taxes.
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 275hp at 6,600rpm
Torque: 353Nm from 1,450-4,700rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Top speed: 250kph
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: Dh146,999
