As the U.S. contemplates stricter trade measures to restrict advanced chip technology from reaching China, Nvidia, a U.S.-based chip manufacturer, is reportedly developing a version of its new AI chips designed to meet these regulations.
Nvidia is creating a variant of its Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market, as reported by Reuters, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. The company plans to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to launch and sell the chip, which is tentatively named the “B20,” in China.
The B20 is projected to begin shipments in the second quarter of 2025, according to a source. Nvidia has not provided any comments on the matter.
The semiconductor manufacturer has already introduced three chips aimed at complying with U.S. export regulations, one of which is the H20. The company has lowered prices for the H20 due to sluggish sales, competing against domestic competitor Huawei. However, sales for the H20 are reportedly on the rise, with expectations to sell over one million of these chips in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion in revenue, according to the Financial Times, which cites data from SemiAnalysis. This anticipated sales figure is nearly double Huawei’s projections for its Ascend 910B chip.
On the other hand, Nvidia’s H20 chips may be vulnerable to additional U.S. trade restrictions, as indicated by analysts from Jefferies. With the upcoming annual review of U.S. semiconductor export controls scheduled for October, they noted a high likelihood that the H20 could be banned from being sold to China. Such a ban could be implemented in various ways, including through a product-specific ban, reductions of the computing power cap, or limitations on memory capacity.
Moreover, the U.S. could broaden its export controls to cover chips sold to other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or even extend these restrictions to overseas Chinese firms, though the latter option may be more challenging to enforce.