As the United States considers implementing stricter trade restrictions to prevent advanced chip technology from being exported to China, Nvidia, a leading American chipmaker, is reportedly developing a new version of its artificial intelligence chips that will adhere to these regulations.
According to unnamed sources cited by Reuters, Nvidia is focusing on a variant of its Blackwell AI chips tailored for the Chinese market. The company plans to collaborate with a local partner, Inspur, to introduce and market this chip, which is currently referred to as the “B20,” in China.
The B20 is projected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not released any official comment regarding this development.
Nvidia has already designed three chips specifically to meet U.S. export control requirements, including the H20 chip. The company had reduced prices on the H20 due to sluggish sales in order to remain competitive against products from Huawei, a domestic competitor. However, recent reports indicate that sales of the H20 are picking up, with Nvidia expected to sell over one million units in China this year, translating to roughly $12 billion in revenue, despite existing U.S. trade restrictions. This projection nearly doubles Huawei’s sales expectations for its Ascend 910B chip.
Analysts from Jefferies have warned that Nvidia’s H20 chips could be at risk of being affected by forthcoming U.S. trade rules. They suggest that during the annual review of U.S. semiconductor export controls scheduled for October, it is highly probable that the sale of H20 chips to China will be prohibited. Potential methods for enforcing the ban include a specific product ban, reducing the computing power limit, or imposing restrictions on memory capacity.
Additionally, the U.S. may broaden its export controls to include chips sold to other countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or potentially expand these controls to overseas Chinese firms, though this latter measure would pose implementation challenges.