New License Requirements for NVIDIA Chips Suggest 'Is-Informed' Letter From BIS
New export restrictions on microchips from NVIDIA, AMD and potentially other chipmakers come amid “a review of existing policies related to China and will potentially seek to employ a variety of legal, regulatory, and, when relevant, enforcement tools to keep advanced technologies out of the wrong hands,” a Bureau of Industry and Security spokesman said when reached for comment Sept. 1.
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Disclosed by NVIDIA in an SEC filing Aug. 26, the new licensing requirements on exports to Russia and China, including Hong Kong, cover the company’s A100 and H100 chips, as well as any future chips that meet performance thresholds equivalent to the A100. NVIDIA said it had been “informed” of the “new” licensing requirements that same day, with the government indicating the “new license requirement will address the risk that the covered products may be used in, or diverted to, a ‘military end use’ or ‘military end user’ in China and Russia.” NVIDIA said it “does not sell products to customers in Russia."
Under Section 744.21 of the Export Administration Regulations, BIS may send “is informed” letters to companies informing them “individually by specific notice … that a license is required for specific exports, reexports, or transfers (in-country) of any item because there is an unacceptable risk of use in or diversion to a 'military end use' or 'military end user' in Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, China, the Russian Federation, or Venezuela.”
“No rule changes are needed” under that provision, an export control lawyer told Export Compliance Daily.
NVIDIA had in its Aug. 26 SEC filing expressed concern that the “new license requirement may impact the Company's ability to complete its development of H100 in a timely manner or support existing customers of A100 and may require the Company to transition certain operations out of China.” But in a second SEC filing Aug. 31, the company indicated it was subsequently able to obtain authorization to continue those activities temporarily.
“The U.S. government has authorized exports, reexports, and in-country transfers needed to continue NVIDIA Corporation’s … development of H100 integrated circuits … ,” the company said. “The authorization also allows [NVIDIA] to perform exports needed to provide support for U.S. customers of A100 through March 1, 2023. Additionally, the U.S. government authorized A100 and H100 order fulfillment and logistics through the [NVIDIA’s] Hong Kong facility through September 1, 2023.”
“We are working with our customers in China to satisfy their planned or future purchases with alternative products and may seek licenses where replacements aren’t sufficient,” NVIDIA said in an emailed statement. “The only current products that the new licensing requirement applies to are A100, H100 and systems such as DGX that include them.”
AMD, which reportedly told The New York Times that some of its own high-end chips were also impacted by new licensing requirements, did not comment.
“While we are not in a position to outline specific policy changes at this time, we are taking a comprehensive approach to implement additional actions necessary related to technologies, end-uses, and end-users to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” the BIS spokesman said. “This includes preventing China’s acquisition and use of U.S. technology in the context of its military-civil fusion program to fuel its military modernization efforts, conduct human rights abuses, and enable other malign activities.”