17 votes

The nVidia AI GPU black market: investigating smuggling, corruption, and governments

5 comments

  1. [4]
    Eji1700
    Link
    For those who didn't follow what occured, Bloomberg hit the video with a totally fraudulent copyright strike as detailed here. The video is finally back up so if you'd like to watch it you now...

    For those who didn't follow what occured, Bloomberg hit the video with a totally fraudulent copyright strike as detailed here.

    The video is finally back up so if you'd like to watch it you now can, and I do highly recommend it. Further they are of course asking viewers to signal boost that the video is back up, because however many days of 0 views caused by the false strike nukes the video statistically and keeps it hidden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H3xQaf7BFI

    12 votes
    1. [3]
      Pavouk106
      Link Parent
      Such claims should be punished if they are false. What would Bloomberg say if one of their videos goes offline for a few weeks after such false claim? This system is set up really poorly and can...

      Such claims should be punished if they are false.

      What would Bloomberg say if one of their videos goes offline for a few weeks after such false claim?

      This system is set up really poorly and can be easily misused.

      EDIT: Steve encouraged people who got the video on USB stick (via some purchase on GN store) to upload it if his one was brought down and I've seen the video online somewhere else (don't have the link, sorry). What a great fanbase!

      6 votes
      1. [2]
        Liru
        Link Parent
        The USB sticks aren't anywhere near ready to be sent out, though, since there were a lot of people who bought them and it needed to be uploaded to a lot of individual keys.

        EDIT: Steve encouraged people who got the video on USB stick (via some purchase on GN store) to upload it if his one was brought down and I've seen the video online somewhere else (don't have the link, sorry). What a great fanbase!

        The USB sticks aren't anywhere near ready to be sent out, though, since there were a lot of people who bought them and it needed to be uploaded to a lot of individual keys.

        4 votes
        1. Pavouk106
          Link Parent
          Oh, I didn't know that. Well, seems like somebody downloaded the video a reuploaded it then. I have yet to see it.

          Oh, I didn't know that. Well, seems like somebody downloaded the video a reuploaded it then. I have yet to see it.

          1 vote
  2. Liru
    Link
    From the video description: Steve teased this as a feature length video, and it didn't really disappoint in that regard. Strap yourselves in, since this is three and a half hours long. It gets...

    From the video description:

    NVIDIA (NVDA) GPUs have become so in-demand for so-called "AI" workloads that a black market has emerged around them. Where there's prohibition, there's smuggling, and there's money to be made for everyone in the chain. We found smugglers, users, fences, middlemen, and institutions in China, Taiwan, and the US involved in this pipeline flowing export controlled GPUs to China. This is in violation of US Government law, which now includes imposed numerous restrictions on semiconductor processing capabilities, making legitimate export of high-end GPUs to Chinese companies or governments impossible without rarely-granted licenses. But while this is going on, the US Government, NVIDIA, and AMD have been negotiating a cut of sales of two specific models of GPU in order to unblock over $6 billion in combined lost revenue between the companies.

    Steve teased this as a feature length video, and it didn't really disappoint in that regard. Strap yourselves in, since this is three and a half hours long. It gets pretty hands-on and more concrete than most investigations, going so far as to buy an export-controlled 5090 to see if it's actually possible, and even MacGyvering a 4090 with 48GB of VRAM from used parts.

    7 votes