> What's stopping China from buying GPUs via third party middle-men countries that don't have export controls to China? You just described the core of problem

> What's stopping China from buying GPUs via third party middle-men countries that don't have export controls to China? You just described the core of problem of export controls in general in the 21st century: they are freakishly hard (expensive) to enforce, especially for high dollar density goods (dollar/volume). If you try to control how many millions of barrels of crude travels from one place to another, because of the volume, that's still somewhat feasible (although in the case of the Russian embargo: still does not work). If you try to prevent a few crates packed to the gills with H100's from eventually reaching china ... LOL. The only actual effect of embargos is that it raises the price of the item at final destination, not a cut-off of the supply. And when a nation-state the size of China is ultimately financing you because of how strategic what you're doing is, I suspect that is not a real problem. A secondary effect of the export controls is obviously something similar to a Streisand effect: it's going to accelerate innovation around GPUs in China, producing the exact opposite of the initial intent. Famous historical instances of the problem: https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/8093/when-did-the-incident-happen-when-bounty-on-rats-led-people-to-farm-rats https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/8093/when-did-th...