Nvidia introduces A800 GPU for China which is not subject to US export restrictions – Computers – News

Nvidia introduces new A800 data center GPUs for the Chinese market. The A800 series is basically similar to the current A100, although the NVLink interconnect bandwidth is limited to 400GB / s. This means that GPUs are not affected by US export restrictions.

The Nvidia A800 recently appeared for the first time by a Chinese distributor, writes the Reuters news agency. The main difference from the existing A100 GPU is the lower bandwidth for the NVLink interconnect, which is used to connect a large number of GPUs for use in data centers. With the A800, the bandwidth is 400 GB / s, while with the A100 it is 600 GB / s. U.S. export rules apply to chips with an interconnect bandwidth of 600GB / s and higher, Reuters writes. The A800 could therefore be sold in China.

Aside from the lower NVLink bandwidth, the A800 looks identical to the A100. Nvidia lists the A800’s CUDA cores and what clock speeds they achieve, but the claimed performance is the same as the A100 series. The GPU uses the same Ampere architecture and also has a maximum of 80GB of HBM2e memory, just like the A100. The tdps of 300W for the PCIe variant and 400W for the SXM model are also unchanged.

The A800 is a response to the new restrictions on exports of advanced chips to China imposed by the president of the United States. These rules state that some advanced AI chips for data centers and supercomputers cannot be exported to China if they exceed a certain performance limit.

The rules apply to the products of American companies such as Nvidia, but also to the products of foreign entities that use American technology. According to Bloomberg has TSMC already stopped GPU production for the Chinese chip company Biren Technology. A similar measure was previously taken by former President Donald Trump to limit chip shipments to Huawei. US companies are also no longer allowed to produce advanced products logic– and supply memory chips to factories in China, unless the manufacturers obtain a license to do so from the United States.

Nvidia A800 specifications (left) next to the A100