China says restrictions on sales of AI chips are against fair competition

China opposed the US government’s latest restrictions on shipping high-end AI chips used in high-performance computing to the nation.

The comments came after US chip designer Nvidia Corp said on August 31 that US officials told them to stop exporting two top AI chips to China. The targeted AI chips are A100 and H100, designed to speed up machine learning tasks. The US export restrictions on these AI chips are not well-received by the Chinese government.

Shu Jueting, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce, said at a media conference in Beijing that the US has continuously abused export control measures to restrict the export of semiconductor items to China for some time.

"Such practices deviate from the principle of fair competition and violate international economic and trade rules," Shu said.

Shu said that the moves not only damage the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises but also seriously affect US enterprises' interests, hindering international scientific and technological exchanges and economic and trade cooperation. They will also affect the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain, as well as the recovery of the world economy, Shu added.