Not long after the US and other countries banned the sale of Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics cards in China, the price of these GPUs in China doubled in just a few minutes.
According to Android Authority, before the new ban was introduced, US restrictions only affected the Nvidia H100. To overcome the limitation, Nvidia offers a lower-power H800 GPU to take advantage of legal loopholes. So the US government fixed the problem with new laws with more restrictions
The GPU distribution restrictions in China are not yet in effect as the US government just announced the measure and will be implemented in the coming weeks. So at the present time, Nvidia can still distribute this GPU in China.
The new standard is specified in document ECCN 3A090, which limits memory bandwidth to a maximum of 600 GB/s and combined processor computing power is limited to 4,800 TOPS. These limitations directly affect the RTX 4090. That GPU was officially launched in October 2022 with a price of more than 1,650 EUR. Currently, their price has reached around 3,350 EUR. Notably, this purchase is only available in stores like AliExpress because, in official stores in China, this GPU is no longer available.
Nvidia emphasized that it will not affect earnings in the short term, this year. However, the ban could affect the company’s earnings next year because China is a major customer. The company also added that it will affect the development of solutions in the medium and long term, but it is unclear what this mention is.
Ultimately, this is a measure that primarily affects Nvidia, but it could also soon affect AMD, Intel, and other American companies developing solutions for AI