It is reported that the Trump government has put forward an exclusive import list of "one person, one policy" to ByteDance. If ByteDance hopes to successfully advance the previously finalized order for 32000 H200 chips, it must implement all conditions one by one, otherwise it will not be able to obtain the US export license. This is not only about the AI business layout of ByteDance, but also reflects the US control upgrading trend in the high-end chip field.
Firstly, it should be clarified that the H200 chip is not an ordinary chip, but a high-end artificial intelligence chip launched by Nvidia. As an upgraded product of the H100 chip, it is built on the NVIDIA Hopper architecture, with 141GB HBM3e memory and 4.8TB/s bandwidth. It performs outstandingly in scenarios such as large model training and inference, high-performance computing, and has significantly improved performance compared to the H100. It is one of the indispensable core hardware supports for the current development of generative AI. Such chips are widely used in large model research and development, climate simulation, quantum chemistry and other fields by virtue of their super data processing capabilities. The 32000 H200 chips ordered by ByteDance earlier are just to support the core needs of its AI business, short video technology iteration and related scientific and technological research and development, which is of great significance to its technical layout.
The Trump government's three major conditions for ByteDance this time are strict and need to be fully implemented before obtaining the U.S. Department of Commerce's individual export license. The specific terms are clear and clear, and there is no room for negotiation.
The first core condition is to pay high tariffs. The Trump government clearly requires that if ByteDance wants to continue to execute the order of 32000 H200 chips, it needs to pay 30% import tariff in advance, which is estimated to be about 280 million dollars. For enterprises, the high tariff will undoubtedly significantly increase the cost of chip procurement and further reduce the profit space. Especially in the context of the current high cost of global chip procurement, this condition is equivalent to adding a heavy additional expense to the ByteDance chip import, and also testing the ability of enterprises to allocate funds.
The second condition is to accept a comprehensive technical audit by the US side. This requirement means that ByteDance needs to open up relevant technical links to the Trump government, accept the US side's comprehensive review of chip uses, technology applications, research and development processes, and ensure that chip related technologies do not involve areas prohibited by the US side. Based on the previous control logic of the United States over Chinese technology companies, such technology audits often have strong "control", not only cumbersome processes, but also may involve the risk of leakage of core technology information of enterprises. Essentially, it is the US's containment of the technological development of Chinese technology companies, which is in line with the logic of the US requiring Nvidia to export H200 chips to China to be audited by third-party laboratories.
The third condition is to sign a "non military, non supercomputing" end-user commitment letter. The Trump government clearly requires that ByteDance needs to issue a formal written commitment to ensure that the 32000 H200 chips imported are only used in the civilian field and not used for military, supercomputing and other related purposes restricted by the United States, and they need to be subject to subsequent tracking and verification by the United States to ensure the implementation of the commitment. This condition seems to be a regulation of chip usage, but in fact, it is a further control by the US side for "technical security" considerations, attempting to cut off the flow of high-end chips to its so-called "sensitive areas" through this method, highlighting its targeted control over Chinese chips.
It is reported that these three conditions are not "optional", but "mandatory" - only when the three documents, namely, the full payment of 30% tariff on ByteDance, the cooperation in completing the US technical audit, and the official signing of the end-user commitment letter, are all in place, will the US Department of Commerce start the case review process, and finally decide whether to issue export licenses to allow the smooth delivery of 32000 H200 chips.
HongKong.info Committed to providing fair and transparent reports. This article aims to provide accurate and timely information, but should not be construed as financial or investment advice. Due to the rapidly changing market conditions, we recommend that you verify the information yourself and consult a professional before making any decisions based on this information.
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