U. S. Cracks Down on AI Chip Smuggling to China

The U. S. is taking a hard stance on AI chip smuggling. Four people have been accused of trying to send high-tech chips from Nvidia to China without permission. This has sparked a call for a new law to track these chips more closely. The U. S. House Select Committee on China is pushing for the Chip Security Act. This law would make it easier to track where chips are going and stop them from ending up in the wrong places. The act has support from both sides of the political aisle, with 30 lawmakers backing it. The case shows how tricky it is to enforce tech export rules. The U. S. wants to keep advanced technology out of China's hands, especially when it comes to military development. China, however, sees these restrictions as unfair and part of a broader economic strategy by the U. S. The indictment says the defendants used fake contracts and false paperwork to send the chips to third countries, knowing they were headed to China. They managed to ship 400 Nvidia A100 GPUs to China through Malaysia. Law enforcement also stopped attempts to send 10 Hewlett-Packard supercomputers and 50 Nvidia H200 GPUs through Thailand. The scheme involved a company in Tampa, Florida, which was used as a front to buy and export the chips. Nearly $4 million was transferred from China to fund the operation. This case highlights the ongoing tension between the U. S. and China over technology. The U. S. wants to stay ahead, while China is determined to catch up. The outcome of this case and the passage of the Chip Security Act could have big implications for the future of tech exports.