Nvidia’s chips fuel A.I. — Here’s why the U.S. worries about China’s access
Jensen Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia, speaks during the Computex Show in Taipei on May 30, 2017.
SAM YEH | AFP | Getty Images
Nvidia’s powerful semiconductors have taken on particular importance as their capacity to fuel artificial intelligence has become increasingly sought-after.
But their unique capacity is also what’s made China hawks in the U.S. fearful about what it could mean for them to get into the wrong hands, where it could be used to accelerate the spread of non-democratic ideas or develop autonomous weapons.
“If the democratic side is not in the lead on the technology, and authoritarians get ahead, we put the whole of democracy and human rights at risk,” Eileen Donahoe, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council and now executive director of Stanford University’s Global Digital Policy Incubator, told NBC in a recent interview.
With U.S. AI executives warning the government that China is not far behind in its development of the transformative technology, U.S. policymakers believe there’s deep urgency in taking steps to stay ahead.
That’s why the Commerce Department is reportedly considering new limits on the export of such chips to China, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Nvidia had already created a version of the A100, its popular AI chip, that it could sell to the Chinese market. The A800 was made to stay within performance parameters previously outlined by the Commerce Department.
But the new limits reportedly being considered by the Biden administration would restrict even those sales without a license.
Such a move would continue the ongoing standoff between the U.S. and Chinese governments on technology sales between the two countries. The Chinese government in May barred “critical information infrastructure” from buying products from U.S. memory chipmaker Micron, saying the company poses a “major security risk.” The U.S. Commerce Department at the time said they “firmly oppose restrictions that have no basis in fact.”
U.S. limitations on the sale of chips with AI capacity to China would make it harder for China to keep up with the pace of development of the sector by U.S. companies like Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI. While Chinese companies may have some additional advanced chips saved up or resort to slower semiconductors, further limits on high-speed chips could limit their agility in the AI race.
American executives have warned the U.S. government that AI produced without the proper guardrails can be used in nefarious ways. AI models can be designed in ways that perpetuate discrimination in contexts including law enforcement actions, housing and loan approvals and more, for example. But they can also be used to mass produce convincing propaganda or even to develop autonomous weapons.
The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the Journal report and Nvidia declined to comment.
-CNBC’s Kristina Partsinevelos contributed to this report.
WATCH: Can China’s ChatGPT clones give it an edge over the U.S. in an A.I. arms race?
Technology
Samsung Electronics to acquire heating and cooling solutions provider FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros
Omar Marques | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
EToro, a stock brokerage platform that’s been ramping up in crypto, has priced its IPO at $52 a share, as the company prepares to test the market’s appetite for new offerings.
The Israel-based company raised nearly $310 million, selling nearly 6 million shares in a deal that values the business at about $4.2 billion. The company had planned to sell shares at $46 to $50 each. Another almost 6 million shares are being sold by existing investors.
IPOs looked poised for a rebound when President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January after a prolonged drought spurred by rising interest rates and inflationary concerns. CoreWeave’s March debut was a welcome sign for IPO hopefuls such as eToro, online lender Klarna and ticket reseller StubHub.
But tariff uncertainty temporarily stalled those plans. The retail trading platform filed for an initial public offering in March, but shelved plans as rising tariff uncertainty rattled markets. Klarna and StubHub did the same.
EToro’s Nasdaq debut, under ticker symbol ETOR, may indicate whether the public market is ready to take on risk. Digital physical therapy company Hinge Health has started its IPO roadshow, and said in a filing on Tuesday that it plans to raise up to $437 million in its upcoming offering. Also on Tuesday, fintech company Chime filed its prospectus with the SEC.
Another trading app, Webull, merged with a special-purpose acquisition company in April.
Founded in 2007 by brothers Yoni and Ronen Assia along with David Ring, eToro competes with the likes of Robinhood and makes money through fees related to trading, including spreads on buy and sell orders, and non-trading activities such as withdrawals and currency conversion.
Net income jumped almost thirteenfold last year to $192.4 million from $15.3 million a year earlier. The company has been ramping up its crypto business, with revenue from cryptoassets more than tripling to over $12 million in 2024. One-quarter of its net trading contribution last year came from crypto, up from 10% the prior year.
This isn’t eToro’s first attempt at going public. In 2022, the company scrapped plans to hit the market through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) during a sharp downturn in equity markets. The deal would have valued the company at more than $10 billion.
CEO Yoni Assia told CNBC early last year that eToro was still aiming for a market debut but “evaluating the right opportunity” as it was building relationships with exchanges, including the Nasdaq.
“We definitely are eyeing the public markets,” he said at the time. “I definitely see us becoming eventually a public company.”
EToro said in its prospectus that BlackRock had expressed interest in buying $100 million in shares at the IPO price. The company said it planned to sell 5 million shares in the offering, with existing investors and executives selling another 5 million.
Underwriters for the deal include Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and UBS.
— CNBC’s Ryan Browne and Jordan Novet contributed reporting
WATCH: Venture capital firm founder on the Gulf’s next wave of unicorns
Klay Thompson #31 of the Dallas Mavericks handles the ball during the game against the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2025 SoFi Play-In Tournament on April 18, 2025 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee.
Joe Murphy | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
Chime Financial paid the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks roughly $33 million over three years to have its logo worn as a patch on player jerseys, the company disclosed in its IPO filing Tuesday.
The Mavericks finalized the jersey deal, along with “certain other sponsorship and promotional rights,” in 2020, but terms weren’t announced. CNBC reported at the time that, citing an NBA official, that the league’s patch sponsorships ranged from $2 million to $20 million per season, depending on market size.
Chime, a San Francisco-based fintech company that provides online banking services like direct deposit and credit cards, plans to soon debut on the Nasdaq. Cynthia Marshall, who was CEO for the Mavericks from 2018 until December of last year, is on Chime’s board, so the company included details of the arrangement in the related party transactions section of its filing.
The company said it paid the Mavericks $10.5 million in 2022, $11.5 million in 2023 and $11.2 million last year.
Marshall told CNBC in 2020 that the decision to select Chime for its jersey patch came as the team was looking to fill its official sponsorship slot, which came with the deal. The logo has been displayed around American Airlines Center, where the Mavericks play their home games.
“We wanted somebody that was doing well as a business and growing,” Marshall said. “It’s a perfect fit.”
Chime’s IPO filing lands a day after the Mavericks shocked the NBA world by winning the draft lottery and the right to draft presumed top pick Cooper Flagg from Duke University. The Mavericks had only a 1.8% chance of landing the top pick based on where they finished in the standings. ESPN reported on Wednesday that the Mavericks plan to draft Flagg and are not considering the possibility of trading him.
It was a remarkably fortuitous turn of events for a front office and ownership team that’s been roundly criticized for months since trading franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic in February, bringing back older star Anthony Davis in return.
Longtime owner Mark Cuban sold a majority stake in the Mavericks in 2023 to casino owner Miriam Adelson and her family.
In October, the Mavericks announced a multi-year extension to its Chime deal, agreeing to showcase the brand and the company’s products more broadly. One new aspect was the creation of Chime Lane, “a dedicated entrance featuring exclusive benefits for Chime members during Mavs games and select events at AAC,” the team said in a press release.
— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway