US orders tech firm to halt sales of artificial intelligence chips to China

Chip designer Nvidia said on Wednesday that US officials told it to stop exporting two top computing chips for artificial intelligence work to China, a move that could cripple Chinese firms’ ability to carry out advanced work like image recognition and hamper Nvidia’s business in the country. The announcement signals a major escalation of the US crackdown on China’s technological capabilities as tensions bubble over the fate of Taiwan, where chips for Nvidia and almost every other major chip firm are manufactured. Nvidia shares fell 6.6 per cent after hours. The company said the ban, which affects its A100 and…