Latest U.S. Chip Curbs Deliver Setback to China’s AI Ambitions

SINGAPORE—U.S. restrictions on sales of Nvidia high-end processors to China throw a wrench in Beijing’s ambitions to lead in artificial intelligence, as Chinese officials accused the U.S. of monopolizing advanced technologies.

The curbs cut off China’s biggest tech companies from some of the world’s most advanced chips. Nvidia’s affected customers include Alibaba Group Holding the internet giant that operates China’s largest cloud service business, and Tencent Holdings the gaming and social media behemoth. Both sell cloud services powered by Nvidia chips that are capable of crunching huge amounts of data for advanced applications from autonomous factories to video processing.