As the U.S. contemplates implementing stricter trade restrictions to prevent advanced chip technology from reaching China, U.S.-based semiconductor company Nvidia is reportedly developing a version of its new artificial intelligence chips that adheres to these regulations.
Nvidia is said to be creating a variant of its Blackwell AI chips, specifically tailored for the Chinese market. According to unnamed sources, the company plans to collaborate with a local distribution partner, Inspur, to launch and market this chip, which is provisionally named the “B20,” in China.
The B20 is anticipated to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025, as per sources. Nvidia has not commented on the report.
The chipmaker has already designed three chips to meet U.S. export control requirements, including the H20, which it recently reduced in price to enhance competitiveness against homegrown rival Huawei. However, sales of the H20 have reportedly started to rise. It is projected that Nvidia will sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion in revenue, despite existing U.S. trade restrictions. This figure is nearly double Huawei’s anticipated sales for its Ascend 910B chip, according to data from SemiAnalysis.
In the meantime, analysts at Jefferies have indicated that Nvidia’s H20 chips could face risks amid potential new U.S. trade regulations. The annual review of semiconductor export controls in October may lead to a ban on the sale of H20 chips to China, as analysts suggested this could occur in several ways, including a specific product ban, reductions in computing power limits, or constraints on memory capacity.
Additionally, the U.S. might widen export controls on chips sold to other nations in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or extend these restrictions to overseas Chinese firms, although analysts noted that this would be more challenging to enforce.