Chipmaking giant Nvidia has cut its list of approved Asian buyers of artificial intelligence chips by more than half, the Financial Times reported Monday. The company established a new “white list” of businesses that have cleared more rigorous compliance screening designed to keep its products out of China’s hands.
According to the report, which cited three people with knowledge of the situation, Nvidia has stepped up its vetting process over recent months in Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan.
Reuters, which first reported on the Financial Times story, said it was unable to immediately confirm the details. Nvidia had not responded to a request for comment as of the time of the report.
The tightened review resulted in more than half of Nvidia’s former customers being removed from the approved list — particularly smaller cloud computing providers known as neo-cloud companies. The report noted that businesses that did not pass the initial screening can make adjustments and submit a new application.
The development follows guidance issued in May by the U.S. Commerce Department aimed at stopping advanced AI chips from being obtained by overseas branches of Chinese firms. Authorities had raised alarms that Nvidia’s high-powered Blackwell processors may have been shipped to entities with Chinese ties operating in countries like Malaysia, despite existing U.S. export restrictions.
