Chinese AI developers explore renting Nvidia’s Rubin GPU in the cloud — cost, complexity, and regulatory hurdles could limit deployments

China-based AI hardware developers are making rapid progress with accelerators of their own design. However, China’s most advanced AI developers are increasingly acknowledging that domestic hardware is unlikely to catch up with U.S. leaders in the near term, which greatly limits the development of competitive models. To that end, in a bid to stay competitive with American peers, Chinese AI developers are exploring ways to rent Nvidia’s upcoming Rubin GPUs in the cloud, reports the Wall Street Journal.

When Nvidia introduced its Rubin datacenter platform for AI in January, it publicly named American customers and omitted Chinese ones. The company has taken this approach in recent quarters, reflecting U.S. export rules, its commitment to comply with them, and its intent not to signal to investors about the opening of the Chinese market. The message was received by Chinese companies, and they began exploring ways to obtain leading-edge processors from Nvidia remotely to avoid falling behind their U.S. rivals.