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Opinion
Why China said ‘no’ to stripped-down Nvidia chips
To continue buying the chips would be seen as accepting US-dictated tech inferiority. China would rather push for tech independence
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Michael (Jinghan) Zeng is head of and a professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs at City University of Hong Kong.
When US tech giant Nvidia unveiled its B40-series chips for China – stripped-down versions of its more advanced H20 line – many in Washington and Silicon Valley believed they had struck a clever compromise. The United States would retain its technological lead while allowing China to buy “safe” alternatives that preserved its dependence on American suppliers. Nvidia, in turn, could continue to profit from one of its largest markets.
The logic was simple: Beijing would accept something rather than nothing. Yet China has responded with a decisive “no”. Regulators have reportedly ordered leading technology companies to halt purchases of these chips. Beijing has also opened antitrust investigations into Nvidia and raised pointed questions about safety and security risks. What might look like a minor technical dispute is, in fact, a turning point in the politics of global technology.
For decades, Chinese technology development was built on global supply chains dominated by American firms. Reliance on US chips, software and designs was tolerated as the cost of participating in globalisation. After all, every country depends on others in some way. But Washington’s decision to impose sweeping restrictions on high-end artificial intelligence (AI) chips shifted the calculus in Beijing.
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