As the United States evaluates more stringent trade restrictions aimed at preventing advanced chip technology from reaching China, American chip manufacturer Nvidia is reportedly developing a version of its new artificial intelligence chips to align with these regulations.
According to reports from unnamed sources familiar with the situation, Nvidia is crafting a variant of its Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. The company plans to collaborate with a local distribution partner, Inspur, to introduce and distribute the new chip, tentatively named the “B20,” in China.
Sources indicate that the B20 is slated to begin shipping by the second quarter of 2025, although Nvidia has chosen not to comment on these developments.
Nvidia already has three chip designs intended to comply with U.S. export controls, including the H20, for which it has recently reduced prices in response to sluggish sales to compete with domestic rival Huawei. Nonetheless, the sales of H20 chips are reportedly on the rise. Estimates suggest that Nvidia could sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion in revenue despite ongoing U.S. trade constraints. This anticipated figure is nearly double Huawei’s projected sales for its Ascend 910B chip, according to data from SemiAnalysis.
Analysts from Jefferies have raised concerns that Nvidia’s H20 chips might face challenges under potential new U.S. trade regulations. They expressed the likelihood that the H20 could face a sales ban in China during the annual review of U.S. semiconductor export controls scheduled for October. Possible measures for a ban could include a specific prohibition on the product, a reduction in the allowed computing power, or restrictions on memory capacity.
Furthermore, the U.S. could broaden its export controls on chips to other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or expand these restrictions to overseas Chinese companies, although this latter option may present greater implementation challenges, as per analysts’ insights.