Chinese AI firms rush to secure Nvidia chip capacity as scandal stirs fear of curbs

BEIJING - Chinese artificial intelligence companies are trying to rent Nvidia-powered computing capacity at data centers outside China on concerns that a scandal involving the U.S. chipmaker’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, could spur Washington to tighten restrictions on their remote use of advanced processors, three people familiar with the matter said.The moves underline concern among Chinese technology companies over the potential closing of a gap in U.S. export controls. Seeking to protect U.S. dominance of the critical sector, Washington restricts exports to China of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips, but Chinese companies can access such processors remotely by renting computing power at data centers overseas.A major Chinese cloud provider has discussed internally whether to lock in overseas Nvidia chip capacity, while some companies have contacted data-center operators about reserving it, the people said. The people declined to be identified, or to identify the cloud provider because of the sensitivity of the matter.