Google, Microsoft offer Nvidia chips to Chinese companies: Report

(NewsNation) — U.S. export controls forbid Chinese firms from buying Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips, but Google and Microsoft’s cloud divisions are giving them access. 

Google and Microsoft are offering Chinese companies access to Nvidia’s AI chips by providing data center services in locations outside China, according to a Wednesday report by The Information. 

The Biden administration has also taken measures to prevent firms in China from using U.S. technology for artificial intelligence, including advanced semiconductors, as the burgeoning sector raises security concerns.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters that the Biden administration has proposed requiring companies to determine whether foreign entities are accessing data centers in the U.S. as a measure to prevent firms in China from using U.S. technology to train AI models. 

"We use export controls on chips,” Raimondo said. “Those chips are in American cloud data centers, so we also have to think about closing down that avenue for potential malicious activity.”