As the United States contemplates stricter trade measures to prevent advanced chip technology from reaching China, Nvidia, a major U.S. chip manufacturer, is reportedly developing a variant of its latest artificial intelligence chips to align with 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 plans to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to introduce and market the chip, which is tentatively named the “B20,” in China.
The B20 is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not provided any comments regarding this development.
Nvidia currently has three chips designed to meet U.S. export controls, including the H20, which the company has reduced prices for due to diminishing sales, partly to compete with domestic competitor Huawei. However, recent reports indicate that sales of the H20 have started to increase, with projections suggesting that Nvidia will sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion in revenue despite ongoing U.S. trade limitations. This anticipated sales figure is nearly double Huawei’s forecast for its Ascend 910B chip.
Nevertheless, the H20 chips might face additional risks under upcoming U.S. trade regulations, according to analysts from Jefferies. They state that during the annual review of U.S. semiconductor export controls in October, it is highly probable that the H20 will be prohibited from being sold to China. This ban could materialize through various means, such as a targeted product ban, a reduction in the computing power limit, or restrictions on memory capacity.
Furthermore, analysts note that the U.S. could broaden export controls on chips sold to neighboring countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or even extend controls to overseas Chinese firms, though the latter option might be more challenging to enforce.