Huang Renxun may visit Shanghai on June 6. Is there hope for large model companies in China?

Recently, there have been reports that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will visit Shanghai on June 6 and plans to meet with executives from Tencent, ByteDance and other companies, which may involve the import of high-end GPUs.

NVIDIA is the world's leading supplier of GPU and AI chips, and its products have a wide range of partners and customers in the Chinese market, including Tencent, ByteDance, Ideal Auto, BYD, Xiaomi, etc.

Last August, the US government notified Nvidia and AMD to stop selling some high-performance GPUs to China, including Nvidia's A100 and H100, and AMD's MI100 and MI200. These GPUs are chips for AI computing acceleration and are widely used in data centers, cloud computing, scientific computing and other fields. The US government's reason is that these products may be used for "military end uses" or "military end users."

This news has aroused widespread attention and discussion in the industry. On the one hand, Nvidia and AMD's high-end GPUs play an irreplaceable role in China's AI field, especially in the training and reasoning of large models. This sales restriction will undoubtedly have a certain impact on the AI ​​applications and development of these companies; on the other hand, this is also a further suppression and blockade of China's AI field by the United States, exposing China's dependence on and gap in high-end GPUs, and also bringing challenges and opportunities to domestic AI chip manufacturers.

Possibly to solve the problem of high-end GPU exports to China, media quoted informed sources as saying that Huang Renxun will travel to China on June 6 to meet with executives of Tencent, ByteDance and other companies. In addition, Huang Renxun's itinerary for his China trip also includes Ideal Auto, BYD and Xiaomi. However, informed sources said that Huang Renxun has not yet finalized the plan and the details of the trip may still change.

It is believed that Huang Renxun may have two demands during his visit to China.

The first is to communicate and coordinate with Chinese customers to seek to maintain and restore the supply of high-end GPUs. It is reported that the US government has authorized Nvidia to continue selling A100 to US customers before March 1 next year and to continue developing H100 before September 1 next year, but there is no clear explanation for the sale to Chinese customers. This means that it may be difficult for Chinese companies to obtain these high-end GPUs from Nvidia. Huang Renxun may communicate and negotiate with the US government to obtain more export licenses, or circumvent the ban through Hong Kong transit and other means.

The second is to cooperate and communicate with Chinese companies to seek new opportunities in the field of AI. Huang Renxun said at a media roundtable during the Taipei International Computer Show that there are many GPU (graphics chip) startups in China, and we should not underestimate China's ability to catch up in the chip field. He also said that Nvidia is willing to cooperate with Chinese companies to jointly promote the development of AI. During his visit to China, Huang Renxun may discuss the possibility of cooperation with Chinese companies in the fields of AI applications, cloud computing, and intelligent driving.

In short, Huang Renxun's visit to China is an event worthy of attention. It is not only related to the cooperation and development between NVIDIA and Chinese companies, but also to the challenges and opportunities in China's AI field. We hope that Huang Renxun's visit to China can achieve positive results and bring new impetus and vitality to China's AI field.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.