U. S. blocks TuSimple’s Shipment of 24 Nvidia AI GPUs to Australia

BEIJING, February 7 (TMTPOST)—The U.S. Department of Commerce has prohibited Chinese self-driving truck company TuSimple from sending 24 A100 GPUs to Australia, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Although Australia isn't under any sanctions or restrictions related to graphics cards, the U.S. government is concerned that these A100 GPUs might find their way into China. TuSimple refutes these claims, asserting that the A100 GPUs were intended for its Australian subsidiary.

Since October 2022, the U.S. has imposed restrictions on the export of high-performance computing chips, including A100/H100 chips, to China. Although NVIDIA later introduced A800 and H800 chips specifically for China, the rules were further tightened in October 2023, extending restrictions to more chips suitable for AI training, even including high-end gaming GPUs like the RTX 4090.

The A100 was among the first GPUs subjected to export restrictions, and the U.S. Department of Commerce is stringently enforcing those rules.

The department grew suspicious when TuSimple tried to dispatch 24 A100 GPUs to Australia. TuSimple has been under extensive scrutiny for years. In 2021, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States investigated the company, and the company was accused of espionage in 2023. Although the shipment was destined for Australia, the government harbored concerns that TuSimple might ultimately redirect the A100s to China.

Founded in September 2015, TuSimple is among the early startups in the autonomous driving sector. Co-founded by Chen Mo and Hou Xiaodi, the company focuses on developing L4-level autonomous driving truck technology to support the global logistics and transportation industry.