There is a brutal trade war between the United States and China, started by the former, which is only escalating. The most recent restrictions seek to limit Chinese capabilities in terms of the use of artificial intelligence, limiting the power of the hardware they can acquire. But, the Chinese engineers They have found a curious loophole: rent computing power to Data Centers.
A few months ago, the United States imposed a law limiting the power of graphics cards that could be shipped to China. The worst hit by this sanction is NVIDIA, which has developed specific solutions for the Chinese market.
According to the United States, China intends to use these graphics to feed military-grade artificial intelligence systems. The idea would be to create new, more precise weapons systems or improve its weapons, among other things. In short, it seems more like an excuse to limit China’s technological development capacity than anything else.
China finds loophole to bypass US sanctions
With the Chinese unable to buy high-end AI hardware, they have looked for alternatives. It seems that they have found a way to bypass the restrictions, which is quite ingenious. This solution allows them to access the latest NVIDIA GPUsthe most powerful in the world for AI.
Chinese companies and engineers have opted for “rental services«At the same time, there are various rumours about a Chinese market where NVIDIA H100s are sold at ridiculously high prices. To avoid this, they have come up with a very bold solution.
The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Chinese engineers are working with global intermediaries to access high-end computing systems. They also indicate that the payment method would be through cryptocurrencies, which allows them to guarantee privacy.
Although in China there are accelerators with high-end NVIDIA solutions and there is a black market, they see it as more interesting renting power to data centers from other countries. This, although it may seem untrue, allows them to save a lot of money and significantly reduces times. Implementing a system of computing for AI It can take months, so they save themselves the wait.
The WSJ reveals that Chinese clients would use Derek Aw, a Bitcoin miner, for power rental services. Aw is said to have convinced investors to create large-scale AI clusters based on NVIDIA H100 chips.
It is reported that Aw would have created some 300 servers in a data center Brisbane, AustraliaThey also point out that the business is in the process of expanding given the interest shown.
Companies like Microsoft and Google are also getting into the business of building NVIDIA H100 and A100-based servers to rent out to Chinese customers. As this does not violate any laws, it opens up new avenues for them to do business. Developing a “decentralized GPU” system for AI seems to be a highly profitable business.
The mechanism that the Chinese have found to access large computing power for AI is at least interesting. The truth is that the United States, as always, is putting barriers in the way.