Over the past two years, the US government has imposed restrictions on the export of advanced AI chips to China.
BEIJING/SINGAPORE:
In the face of stringent US export restrictions on high-end AI chips, Chinese state-linked entities have turned to global cloud services offered by companies like Amazon and its competitors to access advanced American technology. Recent public tender documents reveal that these entities are leveraging cloud platforms to obtain cutting-edge AI capabilities that they cannot acquire directly due to the restrictions imposed by the US government.
Over the past two years, the US government has implemented tight controls on the export of sophisticated AI chips to China, aiming to curb the Chinese military’s access to advanced technology. These measures have been part of a broader effort to prevent the enhancement of China’s technological capabilities that could potentially impact global security.
According to a review of more than 50 tender documents from the past year, at least 11 Chinese entities have sought access to restricted US technologies through cloud services. Among these, four entities explicitly mentioned Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a cloud provider, although they accessed AWS services via Chinese intermediaries rather than directly from Amazon. This indicates a strategic workaround to bypass the direct export restrictions.
The tender documents, reported by Reuters, highlight the extensive measures Chinese organizations are taking to secure advanced computing power and access to generative AI models. These documents reveal how U.S. companies are capitalizing on China’s growing demand for high-performance computing resources.
Amazon Web Services, which controls nearly a third of the global cloud infrastructure market, is particularly significant in this context. In China, AWS ranks as the sixth-largest cloud service provider. Despite the restrictions, AWS provides cloud services that include access to advanced AI chips like Nvidia’s A100 and H100, which are crucial for powering large-language models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
For instance, Shenzhen University spent approximately 200,000 yuan ($27,996) on AWS cloud services to utilize servers equipped with these advanced chips for an unspecified project. The service was accessed through an intermediary, Yunda Technology Ltd Co. Notably, the export of these Nvidia chips to China is banned by the US government.
Zhejiang Lab, a research institute focused on developing its own large-language model, GeoGPT, sought to purchase AWS cloud computing services for 184,000 yuan in April. Despite initially planning the purchase, the lab later decided against it, although it is unclear how it met its AI model’s computing power needs.
The US government is now working to address this loophole. Michael McCaul, chair of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed concern over the remote access of advanced US technology through cloud services and is pushing for tighter regulations. Legislation introduced in Congress in April aims to empower the commerce department to regulate remote access to US technology, but its passage remains uncertain.
In response to these developments, the commerce department proposed a rule in January requiring US cloud computing services to verify users of large AI models and report to regulators if these models are used for “malicious cyber-enabled activity.” This rule, still pending finalization, would allow the commerce secretary to impose restrictions on customers as necessary.
Microsoft’s cloud services are also in demand among Chinese entities. In April, Sichuan University indicated in a tender document its intention to use Microsoft Azure OpenAI tokens to support a generative AI platform. Microsoft Azure’s role in supporting this project was noted, though Microsoft declined to comment on the specifics of the transaction.
Furthermore, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) sought to rent 500 cloud servers, each powered by Nvidia A100 chips, for an unspecified project. USTC, which was added to a US export control list in May, did not respond to requests for comment regarding this procurement.
Amazon has provided Chinese organizations with access not only to advanced AI chips but also to prominent AI models such as Anthropic’s Claude. Despite recent updates to AWS’s Chinese-language channels indicating some services are not available in China, Chinese clients have reportedly accessed these models. Anthropic, the developer of Claude, confirmed that its AI services are not supported in China, although subsidiaries of Chinese firms based outside of China may use Claude.
The intricate web of cloud services and technology access illustrates the lengths to which Chinese firms are going to circumvent export restrictions, highlighting ongoing tensions and regulatory challenges in the global tech landscape.