As the U.S. contemplates stricter trade restrictions to prevent advanced chip equipment from reaching China, U.S.-based chipmaker Nvidia is reportedly developing a version of its new artificial intelligence chips to comply with those rules.
Nvidia is working on a version of its new Blackwell AI chips tailored for the Chinese market, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. The chipmaker plans to collaborate with local distribution partner Inspur to launch and sell the chip, tentatively named the “B20,” in China.
The B20 is expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2025, according to a source cited by Reuters. Nvidia has declined to comment on the matter.
Nvidia has designed three chips specifically to comply with U.S. export controls, including the H20, which it discounted amid weak sales to compete with chips from domestic rival Huawei. However, sources told Reuters that sales of the H20 are now growing. Nvidia is projected to sell more than one million H20 chips in China this year, generating around $12 billion in revenue, despite U.S. trade restrictions. This figure, almost double Huawei’s sales projections for its Ascend 910B chip, comes from data reported by the Financial Times, citing research from SemiAnalysis.
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s H20 chips could face risks under future U.S. trade rules, according to analysts at Jeffries. The U.S. is set to conduct its annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, and analysts suggested that it is highly likely the H20 will be banned for sale to China. The ban could be enacted through a “product-specific ban, lowering the computing power cap, and/or placing a cap on memory capacity,” the analysts wrote.
The U.S. might also extend export controls on chips sold to other countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or to overseas Chinese companies, although implementing such measures could be more challenging, according to analysts.