The US chip giant is said to have introduced a whitelist of approved customers after tougher compliance checks, excluding more than half of its buyers in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, the Financial Times reports.
According to the FT, citing three people familiar with the matter, Nvidia has stepped up scrutiny in recent months to prevent its AI processors from reaching China via third countries. The new process goes as far as data center visits, contract checks and interviews with end users, with the involvement of the US Department of Commerce. Companies that fail the checks can, however, come back into compliance and reapply.
The clampdown comes under pressure from Washington, which is seeking to plug gaps in export controls and dismantle the black market for chips. In March, US prosecutors charged a co-founder of Super Micro Computer and several employees, accused of helping to smuggle $2.5bn of chips to China via a front entity in Southeast Asia, the FT also reported.
The tightening is worsening the shortage of AI chips in China, where demand is surging with the rise of AI agents. Without access to the most advanced manufacturing equipment, domestic output remains insufficient: "All domestic suppliers are out of stock. Even the low-end chips that nobody wanted are gone," a Chinese industry executive told the FT.
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