How looming ‘chip ban’ in the US means $5 billion windfall for Nvidia

China-based internet giants including Baidu, ByteDance, Tencent and Alibaba are reportedly rushing to acquire high-performance chips. These chips are important for building generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems. According to a report by Financial Times, these Chinese companies have ordered chips worth $5 billion. The buying frenzy is reportedly fuelled by fears of the US imposing new export sanctions on Chinese companies.

As per the report, these companies have placed an order worth $1 billion to acquire nearly 100,000 A800 processors from the US-based chipmaker Nvidia. These chips are expected to be delivered by the end of this year. This is in addition to the order worth $4 billion of graphics processing units (GPU) placed earlier this year. They are expected to be delivered in 2024, the report adds.