Chinese companies reportedly have access to high-end American GPUs through Amazon and Microsoft clouds
In order to prevent China from misusing AI or divert it to military use, the US government has imposed strict export restrictions to prevent Chinese companies from using high-performance GPUs made in the US. However, Reuters has reported that Chinese companies are circumventing the restrictions by using cloud computing services such as Amazon.
Exclusive: Chinese entities turn to Amazon cloud and its rivals to access high-end US chips, AI | Reuters
On August 23, 2024, Reuters reported that an examination of more than 50 bidding documents posted in a public Chinese database found that 'at least 11 Chinese companies were seeking access to U.S. technology and cloud services that would otherwise be restricted.'
Four of the 11 companies reportedly named Amazon Web Services (AWS) as their cloud service provider, but instead of accessing AWS directly, they received the services through Chinese intermediaries.
A March 2024 tender document obtained by Reuters showed that Shenzhen University had paid 200,000 yuan ($40,000) to an AWS account to use cloud servers equipped with NVIDIA's A100 and H100 chips for an unknown project. Both the A100 and H100 are banned from being exported to China. Shenzhen University also used an intermediary, Yunda Technology, to access the AI chips, rather than using AWS directly.
by Web Summit
The US government has previously restricted the export of advanced AI chips to China to limit the capabilities of the Chinese military, but these restrictions only apply to the 'export or transfer of technology,' so providing access to such chips and AI models through the cloud would not violate the law.
A spokesman for Amazon's cloud business told Reuters: 'ASW complies with all applicable U.S. laws, including trade laws, in relation to the provision of AWS services inside and outside of China.'
Similarly, Chinese organizations have had access to Microsoft's cloud. For example, Sichuan University announced in April 2024 bidding documents that it would purchase 40 million Microsoft Azure OpenAI tokens to build a generative AI platform. Later, Sichuan University procurement documents in May noted that Sichuan Province Xuedong Technology had supplied the tokens to the university.
Microsoft did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment, and OpenAI said in a statement that its services are not supported in China and that Azure OpenAI was subject to Microsoft policies, but did not address the bid.
In the past, TikTok has been found to be using this method to develop AI, and this Reuters report makes it clear that this is a common tactic used by Chinese companies.
TikTok is renting NVIDIA GPUs in the cloud to avoid sanctions, a common tactic used by Chinese companies - GIGAZINE
The US government is working to close the loophole in regulations that allow data to be sent via the cloud, but it is lagging behind. 'This loophole has been a concern of mine for a long time, and it is long past time to address it,' said Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In April, a bill was introduced in Congress that would give the Department of Commerce the authority to regulate remote access to American technology, but it is unclear if and when it will pass.
A Commerce Department spokesman said: 'We are working closely with Congress to seek additional resources to strengthen regulations to prevent China from gaining access to advanced AI chips through remote access to cloud computing.'
As if to get ahead of these trends, Chinese companies are poised to monetize AI without using high-performance chips by making code more efficient and models smaller, The Wall Street Journal reports .
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in Software, Web Service, Posted by log1l_ks