US regulator threatens Nvidia's Chinese chips

Nvidia is in hot water with the US Commerce Department over recent chips designed specifically for the Chinese market. Hence the introduction of new data center chips that aren't on the very specific ban list, and skirt under its 4800 TOPS limit. These chips, including the HGX H20, L20, and L2, are legal to sell to Chinese businesses, at least at the time of writing. Raimondo isn't taking the announcement of these new chips lying down. The Secretary had pointed words for Nvidia's strategy of designing new variations of chips to slide under the TOPS power limit. While the Chinese chip market isn't the only one on the planet, it's probably the biggest outside of US-based tech giants, possibly bigger by some metrics. Even redesigning chips based on existing hardware isn't free, and a sword of Damocles constantly hanging over new B2B product lines is enough to make even Fortune 500 CEOs lose sleep.