Unapproved RTXโ 5090 โShipments Surface in China, โRaising Concernsโฃ Over Export โControls
Beijing – Pallets of unapproved NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards have reportedly appeared in China, signaling potential breaches ofโ U.S. export โcontrols and highlighting the challenges of regulatingโ advanced technology sales. The shipments, first observed by tech enthusiasts and reported by multiple sources, underscore a growing trend of parallelโ importsโข designed to circumvent restrictions aimed atโฃ limiting China’s accessโ to cutting-edge semiconductors.
The emergence of these RTX 5090 cards-NVIDIA’s most powerful consumer graphics card-comesโ amid heightened U.S.โฃ efforts to curb the flow of advanced chipsโข and related technology to China,fearing โขtheirโฃ use โขin military โapplications and artificial intelligence progress. Whileโฃ NVIDIAโ officially halted direct sales of high-end GPUs to โฃChina in late 2023 โto comply with export regulations, the โappearance of these cards demonstrates how complex global โขsupply chains and intermediary markets are being exploited to bypass those controls. The situation raises questions about theโ effectiveness of current enforcement mechanisms and the potential for wider circumvention.
Recentโ financialโค reports โคreveal a โคimportant surge in โคNVIDIA’s sales thru Singapore, accounting for over 20% of it’s revenue โคthis โขyear-nearly $20 billion in the first half alone. โฃ NVIDIA maintainsโ that 99% of dataโฃ center revenue billed through Singapore originates from U.S.-based customers, suggestingโข a deliberate โrouting of sales โto โฃpotentially obscure the final destination. This practice, combined with the finding ofโข the RTX 5090 shipments, illustrates โขthe difficulty โคof tracking and controlling the ultimate use of restricted technologies โขwhen profits are highโค and corporate structures are โinternationally dispersed. U.S.โ officials are now โinvestigating the origin of the cards and potential violations of export laws, with further โคscrutiny โขexpected on NVIDIA’s โคsales practicesโข and theโ role of Singapore as a key transit hub.