Nvidia is designing an advanced chip for the Chinese market that are designed to be compliant with US restrictions.
The US is trying to prevent China from gaining access to advanced semiconductors in an effort to maintain its technological dominance. The effort has been largely successful, with reports indicating China’s semiconductor industry has been all but annihilated.
According to Reuters, China may be getting some help from Nvidia. The company has managed to create a semiconductor that is advanced, yet still meets US restrictions. The new chip, the A800, could help Nvidia avoid hundreds of millions in lost revenue.
“The A800 looks to be a repackaged A100 GPU designed to avoid the recent Commerce Department trade restrictions,” said Wayne Lam, an analyst at CCS Insight.
“China is a significant market for Nvidia and it makes ample business sense to reconfigure your product to avoid trade restrictions,” said Lam.
The news comes on the heels of a report that Chinese firms are throttling the performance of various semiconductor designs in an effort to circumvent the sanctions.