SoftBank Shares Slide as Oracle’s AI Spending Plans Fuel Market Jitters 
EU Court Cuts Intel Antitrust Fine to €237 Million Amid Long-Running AMD Dispute 
Trello Outage Disrupts Users as Access Issues Hit Atlassian’s Work Management Platform 
SpaceX Edges Toward Landmark IPO as Elon Musk Confirms Plans 
Intel’s Testing of China-Linked Chipmaking Tools Raises U.S. National Security Concerns 
China Adds Domestic AI Chips to Government Procurement List as U.S. Considers Easing Nvidia Export Curbs 
U.S.-EU Tensions Rise After $140 Million Fine on Elon Musk’s X Platform 
Nvidia Weighs Expanding H200 AI Chip Production as China Demand Surges 
Evercore Reaffirms Alphabet’s Search Dominance as AI Competition Intensifies 
U.S. Greenlights Nvidia H200 Chip Exports to China With 25% Fee 
Trump Criticizes EU’s €120 Million Fine on Elon Musk’s X Platform 
Apple App Store Injunction Largely Upheld as Appeals Court Rules on Epic Games Case 
Moore Threads Stock Slides After Risk Warning Despite 600% Surge Since IPO 
SK Hynix Labeled “Investment Warning Stock” After Extraordinary 200% Share Surge 
Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban Sparks Global Debate and Early Challenges 
Microsoft Unveils Massive Global AI Investments, Prioritizing India’s Rapidly Growing Digital Market 
In anticipation of rising tech tensions between the US and China, leading Chinese technology companies have been amassing high-performance graphic processing units (GPUs), especially those from Nvidia, to ensure their AI development projects remain uninterrupted.
Strategic Moves by Tech Titans
Companies like Baidu, ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba have been proactive in securing these essential AI components. According to the Financial Times, these firms collectively placed orders for around 100,000 A800 processors from Nvidia, scheduled for delivery this year, in a deal worth approximately $4 billion. Furthermore, they have also committed to buying $1 billion worth of GPUs for 2024 delivery.
Baidu's CEO, Robin Li, during an earnings call, highlighted the company's readiness with enough AI chips to support its ChatGPT-like Ernie Bot for the next one or two years. He acknowledged that while inference tasks need less powerful chips, their current reserves and other alternatives should suffice for various AI-native applications for end-users.
Impact on AI Development Pace
Li also noted that difficulties in acquiring the most advanced chips could slow AI development in China. This has led Baidu and other tech giants to actively seek alternatives to Nvidia's GPUs.
AI's Bold Move in the LLM Market
Despite these challenges, there are success stories like 01.AI, established by renowned investor Kai-Fu Lee. The company managed to acquire a significant number of high-performance inference chips and has already cleared its debts after securing a valuation of $1 billion. This showcases that startups, with the right funding, can still make impactful entries into the large language model (LLM) market.
Baidu's Continued Advancements
With its GPU reserve, Baidu recently launched Ernie Bot 4. Li claimed this model is comparable in capability to GPT-4, underscoring Baidu's competitive stance in the AI industry.
Chinese tech giants are strategically stocking up on Nvidia GPUs to maintain their AI development momentum amid escalating US-China tech tensions.
