Nvidia and AI firm Anthropic are currently embroiled in a back-and-forth around claims the former's chips are being smuggled into China, and the concerns that smuggling raises. Where Anthropic cites a systemic problem, Nvidia argues Anthropic is telling "tall tales".
In a recent blog post, Anthropic warned of the 'major threat' that is chip smuggling. It claims China has "established sophisticated smuggling operations, with documented cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars worth of chips". This leads Anthropic to argue that export enforcement needs increased funding, and that the tier system introduced in the 'AI Diffusion Rule' needs adjusting to allow tier 2 countries better access to technology, alongside more lenient rules for tier 2 countries.
