As the U.S. contemplates imposing stricter trade restrictions to prevent advanced chip technology from being exported to China, American chip manufacturer Nvidia is reportedly developing a version of its latest artificial intelligence chips that complies with these regulations.
Reports indicate that Nvidia is creating a variant of its new Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. The company is expected to collaborate with a local distribution partner, Inspur, to introduce and sell the chip, provisionally named the “B20,” in China.
The B20 is anticipated to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025, according to sources. Nvidia has not commented on this development.
The chipmaker has designed three chips to adhere to U.S. export restrictions, including the H20, which it has lowered prices for due to competition with domestic rival Huawei. Despite initial weak sales, sources indicated that H20 sales have begun to increase. Nvidia is projected to sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, valued at approximately $12 billion, even amid ongoing U.S. trade limitations, as reported by the Financial Times, citing data from SemiAnalysis. This figure is nearly double Huawei’s sales expectations for its Ascend 910B chip.
However, analysts from Jefferies have cautioned that Nvidia’s H20 chips could face scrutiny under potential new U.S. trade regulations. In light of the upcoming annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, Jefferies analysts noted that the potential banning of the H20 chip from sale to China is “highly likely.” They outlined that this ban could manifest in various forms, such as a specific product ban, restrictions on computing power, or limits on memory capacity.
Furthermore, the U.S. might consider extending its export controls on chips to other regional countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or could apply these regulations to overseas Chinese companies, although such implementations may be more complex, analysts noted.