NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang resigned on the 12th. (European News Agency)
[Instant News/Comprehensive Report] Although NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO, the political storm surrounding the flow of advanced AI chips to China has not subsided. Instead, it has set off a greater ripple effect in Washington. Zhang Kunyang, a researcher at an American think tank, pointed out that billions of dollars in AI projects, the computing power needs of China's military scientific research institutions, and the regulatory responsibilities of the U.S. government will not disappear when Huang Renxun leaves office. He believes that Washington must thoroughly investigate how much advanced U.S. AI computing power flows into China through various channels, and clarify how much of it is ultimately used for the modernization of the Communist military.
Zhang Kunyang posted on Facebook on the 13th that he had been interviewed by Reuters for three consecutive reports to analyze Washington’s policy trends and chip export control loopholes after Huang Renxun left office. He emphasized that although there is currently no public evidence that Huang Renxun deliberately leaked secrets or violated export controls, relevant investigations must still follow due process, but Congress can still call him to testify; and Huida, whose interim CEO is Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, is bound to face Congress's strict questioning on the company's internal supervision, Southeast Asian intermediary transactions, and Chinese military-related agencies.
One of the focuses of this turmoil is the huge undercurrent of controlled chips in the Chinese market. According to the latest exclusive investigation by Reuters, after combing through more than 150 Chinese procurement announcements, investment plans and corporate documents, it was found that there are AI computing projects in China worth more than 23 billion yuan (about 3.2 billion US dollars) (including computer room and infrastructure investment), and plans to use Huida H100, H200 and H800 chips that are subject to US export controls. In addition, although Huida claims to have almost lost the Chinese AI data center market, data from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that Huida still accounted for about 34% of China's AI accelerator shipments in the first half of this year.
In response to the loopholes in controls, Zhang Kunyang warned during an interview that Chinese institutions often obtain GPU computing power indirectly through third-party companies, data centers and cloud services. Therefore, Washington’s export controls cannot only stop at examining "surface buyers", but must also trace the "end users" and actual uses to clarify the actual uses of these computing power.
The chip flow controversy has also officially engulfed the Trump administration and the U.S. Congress. During a recent interview, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent rarely publicly questioned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, pointing out that the Treasury Department, the Department of Defense, the State Department, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative had supported the inclusion of "Megaspeed" on the export restriction list several months ago, but the Ministry of Commerce, which holds the final decision-making power, has yet to take action. Bessant even bluntly stated that "the decision lies with the Department of Commerce."
At the same time, the attitude of the U.S. Congress also changed drastically. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson revealed that Congress is gradually forming a consensus to tighten exports of advanced chips to China; even Republican Senator Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who has been ambiguous about export controls in the past, uncharacteristically required Huang and the Secretary of Commerce to attend the hearing. At present, the two parties in Congress are actively promoting a number of bills, aiming to comprehensively plug leaks from aspects such as strengthening chip location tracking, restricting Chinese companies from leasing overseas AI computing power, and strengthening Congressional supervision of export licenses.
Finally, Zhang Kunyang believes that it is necessary for Washington to truly find out how much advanced American AI computing power has entered China through different channels, and how much may eventually be used for the military modernization of the People's Liberation Army. "There are still many things that remain unanswered about this crisis, but it will definitely intensify."
