As the United States deliberates on stricter trade measures to prevent advanced chip technology from reaching China, Nvidia, a U.S.-based semiconductor company, is reportedly developing a variant of its new artificial intelligence chips to meet these regulations.
According to unnamed sources cited by Reuters, Nvidia is creating a version of its Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. The company is expected to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to introduce the chip, which is tentatively named the “B20,” in China.
Sources indicate that the B20 is projected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not provided any comment on the matter.
Nvidia has already designed three chips to adhere to U.S. export controls, including the H20, which it reduced prices for due to sluggish sales, aiming to compete with chips from local rival Huawei. However, sources report that H20 sales are now on the rise. Nvidia is anticipated to sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion in revenue, despite existing U.S. trade restrictions, as reported by the Financial Times, citing data from SemiAnalysis. The expected sales figure is nearly double Huawei’s forecasted sales for its Ascend 910B chip.
At the same time, analysts from Jefferies have cautioned that Nvidia’s H20 chips could face challenges under potential new U.S. trade regulations. They suggested that during the upcoming annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, it is “highly likely” that the H20 will be banned from being sold to China. This ban could manifest in several ways, such as a targeted product ban, a reduction in the computing power limit, or restrictions on memory capacity.
Furthermore, the U.S. might consider extending export controls on chips destined for other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or applying these controls to foreign Chinese firms, though analysts note that such measures would be more complex to enforce.