Nvidia denies Latin America role in chip smuggling as US-China AI rivalry reaches Brazil

Nvidia's top executive for Latin America, Marcio Aguiar, denied on Wednesday that the region is being used as a route for smuggling restricted chips into China. This statement comes after Anthropic, a US AI company, alleged that Chinese labs have used smuggled processors for recent advancements. Speaking at Web Summit Rio amidst heightened US-China AI rivalry, Aguiar acknowledged the significant pressure on export controls, noting that suspicious large orders sometimes originate from countries with no prior commercial ties to Nvidia. While not confirming Latin America as a smuggling corridor, Aguiar indicated that such illicit activities are a concern impacting Nvidia's sales operations.