As the United States considers imposing stricter trade restrictions to prevent advanced chip equipment from being delivered to China, U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturer Nvidia is reportedly developing a version of its new artificial intelligence chips that adheres to these regulations.
According to anonymous sources cited by Reuters, Nvidia is collaborating with a local distributor, Inspur, to introduce and market the chip, provisionally named the “B20,” in China. This new chip is projected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025.
Nvidia has already designed three chips to meet U.S. export control standards, including the H20, which the company reduced prices for due to sluggish sales in order to compete with rival Huawei’s offerings. Analysts report that sales of the H20 are currently on the rise. Predictions indicate Nvidia may sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, amounting to roughly $12 billion in revenue, despite existing U.S. trade barriers. This figure is nearly double Huawei’s anticipated sales for its Ascend 910B chip, according to data shared by SemiAnalysis.
However, analysts from Jefferies have indicated that Nvidia’s H20 chips could face increased risk under forthcoming U.S. trade regulations. In their note, they mentioned that during the U.S. annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, it is “highly likely” that H20 sales to China will be prohibited. This ban could occur through various means: a specific product ban, a reduction in the permissible computing power cap, or a limitation on memory capacity.
Additionally, analysts noted that the U.S. might broaden its export restrictions on chips sold to other regional countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or extend these controls to overseas Chinese companies, though they acknowledged that such moves would be more challenging to enforce.