News of the Cyber World

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AI

China to restrict access to Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips — as Trump looks to lift export curbs: report

China is set to limit access to Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips – even after President Trump said the US chipmaker could resume exports to Beijing, according to a report.

Chinese companies have been forced to use less-powerful domestic alternatives as the US has enforced strict export controls on its AI chips – fearful Beijing could use the tech in military applications or to edge ahead in the AI race.

But now that it appears those export curbs could be lifted, Chinese regulators are discussing ways to allow only limited access to the chips as it encourages domestic production, two people with knowledge of the matter told the Financial Times.

Buyers would likely be required to go through a tedious approval process, including submitting requests to purchase the Nvidia chips and filing an explanation as to why domestic producers are unable to meet their needs, the sources said.

A final decision on the matter has not yet been made, according to the report.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump announced the US “will allow NVIDIA to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China,” and that “25% will be paid” to the US.

He said the Commerce Department is working on the final details, and the same export approach will be applied to other American chipmakers like AMD and Intel.

The White House and Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.

Exports of Nvidia’s H200 chips – its second-best generation of AI chips – were initially banned under the Biden administration over national security concerns.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been lobbying for the export curbs to be lifted.

Those who support the resurgence of exports have argued it has the potential to make China reliant on American technology.

US busts $160 million China-linked Nvidia chip smuggling ring

The US Justice Department on Monday announced the arrest of two Chinese businessmen for orchestrating a sophisticated scheme to smuggle high-performance Nvidia AI chips to China.

This is as President Trump reverses a Biden-era policy that will now allow China to import the Nvidia H200 AI chip from the US.

The bust was part of "Operation Gatekeeper," which seized more than $50 million in advanced GPUs destined for China and other restricted locations.

The two suspects, 43-year-old Fanyue Gong, a Chinese citizen living in Brooklyn under “Tom Gong,” and 58-year-old Benlin Yuan, a Canadian national originally from China, were arrested in the US (New York and Virginia) last week.

Gong was said to own a New York technology company, while Yaun was the CEO of a Virginia-based IT services company, also a subsidiary of a company based in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

According to court filings, the duo acquired Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs through intermediaries and straw purchasers, and falsified information about the chips' ultimate destination.

The two PRC natives were found conspiring with another suspect, 43-year-old Chinese national Alan Hao Hsu and his Houston-based company, Hao Global LLC, to carry out the complex scheme.

Hsu was arrested and pleaded guilty in October to smuggling and unlawful export activities connected to the same network, the DoJ said.

Gong and Yaun are also accused of conspiring with employees of a Hong Kong logistics company and a China-based AI technology firm to circumvent US export controls, the DoJ states.

Nvidia labels replaced with fake labels

Prosecutors say the scheme ran from late 2024 to mid-2025 and involved at least $160 million worth of export-controlled GPUs. Wire transfers exceeding $50 million from China were reportedly used to fund the operations.

The GPUs, designed for advanced AI and high-performance computing applications, were reportedly shipped to US warehouses where workers removed Nvidia labels and replaced them with tags referencing a fake company, “SANDKYAN.”

The chips were then prepared for export to China and Hong Kong, prosecutors say. Yuan additionally coordinated inspections to obscure the chips’ true destination, the criminal complaint alleges.

Tech CEOs Detail U.S. Investment Commitments During Roundtable with Trump

WASHINGTON–Tech CEOs joined President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, where they shared their investment commitments over the coming years.

Trump met with the likes of Dell CEO and Founder Michael Dell, HP CEO Enrique Lores, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, and President and CEO of HP Enterprises Antonio Neri.

Trump went around the room asking executives how much their respective companies have committed in terms of investment, beginning with Krishna, who noted that IBM has committed to $150 billion.

Dell, who notably announced with his wife, Susan, a donation of $6.25 billion to fund investment accounts, or “Trump Accounts,” for 25 million American children last week, went second.

While Dell did not provide a precise number or a time frame, he estimated that the company is committed to investing “several hundred billion dollars.”

“If I think about all the, you know, investment that we make with the American companies that are adding capacity, particularly around semiconductors, it’s several hundred billion dollars,” he said.

“That’s pretty good,” Trump responded. “It makes the $6 billion sound very–very small. That’s very good.”

Neri said that HP Enterprise is committing an additional $3.5 billion in investment in the next few years.

“Over the next few years, we’re going to invest an additional $3.5 billion buiding secure manufacturing. We build the largest supercomputer for the United States government that supports both the [Department of War] and [Department of Energy],” he said.

“So in the next 18 months, we’re going to build the largest five supercomputers that will keep the United States ahead of the game, both in life science and AI, but also to keep ahead… the entire stack at the national security level,” he added.

Lores, who emphasized that HP Enterprises and HP are “totally separate companies,” said HP averages about 18 billion annually in investment.

“From our side, we invest in the U.S. around $18 billion per year. So you look at the… next five, it will be close to $100 billion,” Lores said.

“And we are going to be investing in AI…not only on data centers, but how to make AI available to customers in PCs, in headsets, in devices that they will be using every day,” he added.

He also joked, “We’re competing hard with Michael,” a reference to the Dell and HP rivalry.

Tech honchos rejoice as Trump signs order kneecapping California AI regulation

Tech bosses rejoiced as President Donald Trump signed an executive order to stymie states from enforcing AI regulations — delighting the president’s allies but infuriating critics who say that AI left unchecked could kill jobs and risk people’s safety.

Trump directed the US attorney general to create an “AI litigation task force” to challenge state regulations that could impede a national regulatory standard — a move that critics say is illegal. The president also aims to make state funding contingent on compliance with the order.

Billionaires including David Sacks, the White House AI and crypto czar who pushed the executive order, celebrated its signing and said it would help companies who might otherwise have to navigate a patchwork of state laws.

“Thank you to President Trump for his extraordinary vision and leadership on AI and for looking out for the interests of the entire country, as the Framers of the Constitution intended and as only the President of the United States can do,” gushed Sacks in a Dec. 8 post on X.

“Playing a game with 50 sets of rules isn’t viable. Having to do so would slow down investment,” wrote Chamath Palihapitiya, venture capitalist and Trump ally who co-hosts the All-In podcast with Sacks, on X. The two looked in festive spirits around the signing, with Palihapitiya sharing a Christmas greeting Thursday showing him and Sacks cheesing at the White House.

The executive order was a culmination of months of lobbying by top firms like OpenAI, Nvidia, and Google.

California stands to lose as much as $1.8 billion in federal broadband funding if it enforces AI regulations in conflict with the order, per the LA Times.

Backers of the order argue that lower regulatory burdens will help ensure U.S. development of AI remains competitive with China, and that entrepreneurs will prosper free from pesky state bills.

Sacks, on Fox Business, argued that AI has created a “broad-based boom” boosting plumbers, electricians and other blue-collar workers.

“What we’re actually seeing is a huge boom that’s benefiting construction workers,” Sacks told Fox host Maria Bartiromo.

Others have a much dimmer take, saying the order violates states’ rights and smacks of a giveaway to Trump fans in Silicon Valley.

CRYPTO HACK

South Korea suspects North Korea behind cryptocurrency exchange hack, theft of $30.4M

SEOUL — South Korea suspects a North Korean team may be behind the recent hacking of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit that led to the unauthorized withdrawal of 44.5 billion won ($30.4 million) in cryptocurrencies, the Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday.

South Korean authorities are inspecting Upbit’s systems and suspect a group of hackers affiliated with North Korea’s spy agency, known as the Lazarus Group, were involved in what the exchange called “an abnormal withdrawal,” Yonhap said.

The Lazarus Group has been blamed for a number of crypto heists in recent years, with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation citing North Korea’s cyber operations as “one of the most advanced persistent threats.”

Thursday’s hack at Upbit had the signature of the heist of 58 billion won in cryptocurrencies in 2019 that was linked to Lazarus, Yonhap cited an unnamed government official as saying.

An official at South Korea’s National Police Agency team investigating cyber crimes said an investigation has been launched into the case, but declined further comment.

The National Intelligence Service could not be reached for comment.

An official at Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, said: “We are currently investigating the cause and scale of the asset outflow.”

The attack occurred hours before South Korean internet giant Naver acquired Dunamu.

Upbit is the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.