The mysterious AMD MI388X AI GPU will not be available in China courtesy US sanctions on AI processors

Recently, AMD has added an unrevealed AI chip, the MI388X, along with Instinct MI250 and MI300A, to its regulatory 10K filing with the SEC, considering it will not be sold to Chinese customers due to US sanctions on AI processors.

In a statement, AMD said:

In October 2023, BIS [U.S. govt. Bureau of Industry and Security] issued new requirements for certain advanced computing items that apply to the export of products classified ECCN 3A090 or 4A090 to a party headquartered in, or with an ultimate parent headquartered in, any of Country Groups D1, D4 or D5, including China.

These controls prevent us from shipping our AMD Instinct MI250, MI300X, MI300A, MI388X integrated circuits and our Versal VC2802, VE2802 FPGAs to China, or to customers outside of the United States whose ultimate parent is headquartered in a D5 country (including China), without a license.

AMD and Intel are powerful companies that make processors and other products for almost every computing need, but not all the products are listed on the website, as some could be customized for customers or the military.

However, sometimes, due to laws in place, they are forced to disclose them someplace else; we think that’s what happened with this AMD Instinct MI300 series product

The MI300 series products comprise multiple configurations featuring different CPU and GPU core distributions.

The declaration of this chip in regulatory form has proved its existence and is evidence that it is made for more than one customer outside China. Apart from this, there is no other information about it, like whether it is a custom product targeted to high-performance or lower-performance.

The Instinct MI309 was another chip barred from exporting to China. It didn’t meet the US government export rules and was too powerful to be shipped.