As the United States evaluates stricter trade regulations to prevent advanced chip technology from being sent to China, American chip manufacturer Nvidia is reportedly developing a version of its new artificial intelligence chips that aligns with these new rules.
According to sources cited by Reuters, Nvidia is creating a model of its Blackwell AI chips aimed at the Chinese market. The company plans to collaborate with a local distributor, Inspur, to launch and market the chip, which is tentatively named the “B20,” in China.
The B20 is anticipated to start shipping in the second quarter of 2025, as per the reports. Nvidia has not provided any official comments on this matter.
Nvidia has already designed three chips specifically to meet U.S. export control requirements, one of which is the H20. The company recently reduced prices for the H20 due to low sales in an effort to compete with domestically produced chips from Huawei. However, reports indicate that H20 sales are now on the rise, with Nvidia projected to sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, which could generate approximately $12 billion in revenue, despite existing U.S. trade restrictions. This expected sales figure is nearly double what Huawei anticipates for its Ascend 910B chip, according to data from SemiAnalysis.
Simultaneously, Jefferies analysts warned that Nvidia’s H20 chips could face challenges under impending U.S. trade rules. They noted that during the annual assessment of the U.S. semiconductor export controls in October, it is highly probable that the sale of H20 chips to China will be banned. The potential ban could take several forms, including a specific prohibition on the product, a reduction in the computing power threshold, or limitations on memory capacity.
Additionally, there are possibilities that the U.S. might extend export controls on chips sold to neighboring countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or might target overseas Chinese firms, though implementing such measures would be more complicated, analysts indicated.