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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gupta, Ritwik, Walker, Leah, Reddie, Andrew W.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.14425
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author Gupta, Ritwik
Walker, Leah
Reddie, Andrew W.
author_facet Gupta, Ritwik
Walker, Leah
Reddie, Andrew W.
contents U.S. export controls on semiconductors are widely known to be permeable, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) steadily creating state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) models with exfiltrated chips. This paper presents the first concrete, public evidence of how leading PRC AI labs evade and circumvent U.S. export controls. We examine how Chinese companies, notably Tencent, are not only using chips that are restricted under U.S. export controls but are also finding ways to circumvent these regulations by using software and modeling techniques that maximize less capable hardware. Specifically, we argue that Tencent's ability to power its Hunyuan-Large model with non-export controlled NVIDIA H20s exemplifies broader gains in efficiency in machine learning that have eroded the moat that the United States initially built via its existing export controls. Finally, we examine the implications of this finding for the future of the United States' export control strategy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_14425
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Whack-a-Chip: The Futility of Hardware-Centric Export Controls
Gupta, Ritwik
Walker, Leah
Reddie, Andrew W.
Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
U.S. export controls on semiconductors are widely known to be permeable, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) steadily creating state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) models with exfiltrated chips. This paper presents the first concrete, public evidence of how leading PRC AI labs evade and circumvent U.S. export controls. We examine how Chinese companies, notably Tencent, are not only using chips that are restricted under U.S. export controls but are also finding ways to circumvent these regulations by using software and modeling techniques that maximize less capable hardware. Specifically, we argue that Tencent's ability to power its Hunyuan-Large model with non-export controlled NVIDIA H20s exemplifies broader gains in efficiency in machine learning that have eroded the moat that the United States initially built via its existing export controls. Finally, we examine the implications of this finding for the future of the United States' export control strategy.
title Whack-a-Chip: The Futility of Hardware-Centric Export Controls
topic Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.14425