Nvidia Reportedly Asks TSMC to Rush Lucrative GPU Orders Before US-China Sanctions Bite

According to a report published by a Taiwanese business journal, Nvidia is seeking to fast-track some high-end GPU orders. The reasoning behind the need for speed is that Nvidia wishes to fulfill some lucrative Ampere A100 and Hopper H100 GPU orders to China before the US-imposed sanctions kick in. If the rumors published by UDN are true, these ‘super hot runs’ will create a welcome lump of revenue for Nvidia and propel TSMC’s Q4 revenues to new highs.

Nvidia is naturally keen to fulfill orders for its high-end, high-margin GPU accelerators. Key customers in China won’t be reachable by the green team in the near future, as the US has imposed sanctions on high-end AI chips. However, to give US tech firms time to adjust, the US government will allow for a grace or transition period. UDN’s report suggests that A100 chips will be able to be bought by Chinese companies until March of 2023, while the newer architecture H100 chips will be purchasable by Chinese companies until September of next year.

The UDN report says that TSMC has a special program to help out time-pressured customers with a ‘super hot run.’ With this rush order between TSMC and its customer negotiated (it clearly won’t be cheap) the order to delivery time can be basically cut in half. That means Nvidia’s order for a new batch of A100 and/or H100 GPUs can be delivered in two to three months, rather than in five to six months, according to the source. Moreover, the first batches of completed rushed orders will be delivered to Nvidia starting from the end of October at the earliest.

With powerful GPUs from Nvidia facing a ban on sales to China, readers won’t be surprised to hear that Nvidia DGX systems packing these GPUs will also be restricted. That makes sense, but the logic behind the buffer periods given to companies like Nvidia to continue selling high-end chips to China (for a year beyond the sanction implementation date) will be strongly questioned if China makes any questionable use of the technology.

There have been a few gloomy reports regarding the semiconductor business recently. Tech industry disruptions like the Ethereum merge, EVGA’s withdrawal from the AIB market, and the general macroeconomic malaise from the forces of looming recession are particularly bad for the GPU market. Thus the GPU industry looks like it will enter the doldrums unless something surprising or special happens to inspire customers to rush out and buy all the latest and greatest offerings. Will we see something special from Nvidia or AMD soon? We should know much more on the Nvidia front very shortly, as GTC is happening this week, and specifically, the company has scheduled a GeForce Beyond broadcast for tomorrow.