As the United States considers stricter trade measures to limit the export of advanced chip technology to China, Nvidia, a leading American chip manufacturer, is reportedly developing a new version of its artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these regulations.
According to reports from Reuters, Nvidia is creating a localized variant of its Blackwell AI chips aimed specifically at the Chinese market. This effort will involve collaboration with a domestic distributor, Inspur, to market and distribute the chip, provisionally named the “B20.” Sources indicate that shipments of the B20 are anticipated to commence in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia declined to provide any comments on this development.
Nvidia has already produced three chips that are in compliance with U.S. export controls, including the H20 model, which the company has reduced in price due to sluggish sales in order to compete with Chinese rival Huawei. However, reports suggest that sales of the H20 chip are now on the rise, with Nvidia projected to sell over one million units in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion, despite ongoing U.S. trade restrictions. This figure is nearly double Huawei’s anticipated sales for its Ascend 910B chip, according to data from SemiAnalysis.
Nonetheless, analysts from Jefferies have noted that Nvidia’s H20 chips could face new challenges under forthcoming U.S. trade regulations. With the annual review of U.S. semiconductor export controls scheduled for October, Jefferies analysts suggest it is quite possible that the H20 will be prohibited from being sold to China. Potential avenues for such a ban could include implementing a “product-specific ban,” lowering acceptable computing power limits, or restricting memory capacity.
Moreover, U.S. export controls could also be expanded to encompass chips sold to other nations in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or to affect overseas Chinese companies, although analysts contend that enforcing these measures would be more complex.