As the United States evaluates stricter trade measures aimed at preventing advanced chip technology from being sent to China, Nvidia, the American chipmaker, is reportedly developing a version of its new artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these regulations.
According to sources cited by Reuters, Nvidia is creating a variant of its Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market, working alongside a local distributor, Inspur. This chip is expected to debut in the second quarter of 2025 and is tentatively named the “B20.” Nvidia has not provided any official comments regarding this development.
The company has already produced three chips designed to comply with U.S. export controls, including the H20, which has seen price reductions due to sluggish sales as it competes with Huawei’s homegrown chips. However, reports indicate that sales of the H20 have begun to rise. Nvidia is anticipated to sell over one million of its H20 chips in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion in revenue, despite the imposed U.S. trade restrictions. This sales projection significantly outpaces Huawei’s expectations for its Ascend 910B chip.
In the midst of this, there are concerns that Nvidia’s H20 chips may face restrictions under impending U.S. trade regulations. Analysts at Jeffries noted that during the U.S. annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, it is quite possible that the H20 could be prohibited from being sold to China. This potential ban could manifest in various forms, such as a product-specific ban, an adjustment of the computing power cap, or restrictions on memory capacity.
Additionally, the U.S. may broaden its export control measures to include chips sold to other countries in the region like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or even extend these regulations to overseas Chinese firms, although executing such measures could prove to be more complex, analysts suggested.