Comment on the situation around NVIDIA chips in the Czech Republic

5.2.2025

The US administration, specifically under the leadership of President Joe Biden, announced on 13 January 2025 plans to introduce export limits on powerful AI chips to selected countries, including the Czech Republic. This decision has sparked discussions about the impact on the domestic market for computing accelerators. Our company M Computers, as NVIDIA’s representative for the Czech market in the area of enterprise AI systems, was asked to comment on the current situation.

Commercial Director Petr Plodík gave several interviews to the Czech media in which he explained the reality of the new measures, refuted some speculations about sanctions evasion and stressed that the situation is not a cause for major concern. You can read the highlights below.

Petr Plodík, Sales Director, M Computers

The Czech market is currently using a fraction of the allocated quota

As part of the new US measure, chips equivalent to 50,000 NVIDIA H100 units, the current top of the range among computing accelerators, can be shipped to the Czech Republic within two years. However, we estimate that Czech institutions and companies consume a maximum of around 1,000 units per year. “Even if we allow for a margin, we are still well below the limit,” explains Petr Plodík.

The main customers for these chips are supercomputer centres, universities and large technology companies, with most projects in the hundreds of units. The reason for the relatively low consumption is not only the high price of the chips (NVIDIA H100 costs around CZK 1 million per unit), but also the fact that Czech companies do not yet operate large-scale AI clusters comparable to those in Western Europe or the USA.

Export restrictions and concerns about illegal re-exports

One of the main reasons for imposing export limits is concern about the possible overselling of AI chips to countries under sanctions, such as Russia or China. The Czech Republic has been placed in the second category of export restrictions, leading to speculation that local firms are not sufficiently controlling the flow of computer technology.

However, Petr Plodík unequivocally rejects these claims:

“NVIDIA and its partners are pursuing individual business cases. You can’t just sell AI chips to anyone – you have to prove who the end customer will be and what the chips will be used for when you place the order. “

Any circumvention of the rules would mean the end of business for distributors, as NVIDIA chooses carefully who it works with.

Regulations: what do we know and what is their real impact?

The new regulation focuses on so-called “frontier” chips, which includes the most powerful models such as NVIDIA A100, H100/H200, B200 and AMD Instinct MI300 chips. The definition of “frontier” chips is not entirely clear, but we assume that these are the same types of chips that were covered by the previous restrictions.

Important points

Until 15 May 2025 comments and observations can be submitted on the regulations, but until this time it is not necessary to comply with the regulations.
In the Czech Republic, the sale of AI chips is currently not directly controlled, but suppliers still adhere to NVIDIA’s strict internal rules.
Before shipping DGX systems from the factory, it is necessary to document:
- End-User Statement – a signed acknowledgement from the end customer that the system will be used for civilian purposes and will not be resold to a third party,
- Pre-delivery Site Survey – detailed document on data center readiness for DGX system in terms of site, power, cooling, networking.
We are not aware of a single case where these chips have been re-exported via Czech companies to countries with limited imports.
We can imagine an increase in the administrative burden of purchasing AI chips in the future and the resulting increase in delivery times.
We will monitor further developments and the real impact of the announced regulation on the Czech market.

More information can be found in the interviews for:

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The future of AI computing in the Czech Republic

Interest in AI technology is growing in the Czech Republic, but there are no projects that require a huge number of computing accelerators.

Several interesting projects are being prepared in the field of AI computing in the Czech Republic. The national supercomputing centre IT4Innovations is planning a generational renewal of its most powerful machine. Another important project is CLARA, an initiative of CIIRC CTU and IT4Innovations focused on AI computing for medicine. And Seznam.cz also has an interesting number of AI chips.

However, M Computers is committed to the development of AI throughout the region. We recently received the prestigious NVIDIA SuperPOD certification, which allows us to supply AI Factories to all countries in Eastern Europe. This concept enables modular computing clusters that can grow from single server racks to massive data centers.

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Kamila Jeřábková

Product Manager NVIDIA

+420 734 161 516

kamila.jerabkova@mcomputers.cz