As the United States contemplates stricter trade regulations to prevent the export of advanced chip technology to China, Nvidia, a prominent U.S.-based chipmaker, is reportedly developing a variant of its new artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these rules.
According to reports from Reuters, Nvidia is creating a version of its Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. The company is expected to collaborate with a local distribution partner, Inspur, to introduce and sell the chip, which is preliminarily named the “B20,” in China.
Shipping for the B20 is anticipated to commence in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has chosen not to comment on the reports.
The company has already developed three chips that are tailored to meet U.S. export regulations, one of which is the H20. Nvidia has recently reduced prices for the H20 in response to sluggish sales, aiming to compete with chips produced by domestic rival Huawei. Nevertheless, H20 sales are reportedly experiencing growth. Nvidia is projected to sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion in revenue, despite existing U.S. trade restrictions. This projection is nearly double Huawei’s anticipated sales of its Ascend 910B chip.
However, Nvidia’s H20 chips could face challenges due to potential new U.S. trade regulations, according to analysts at Jefferies. As the U.S. prepares for its annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, it is “highly likely” that the sale of H20 chips to China will be prohibited, analysts indicated. Such a ban could manifest in several ways, including a “product-specific ban,” adjustments to the computing power threshold, or limitations on memory capacity.
Additionally, the U.S. may extend these export controls to chips sold to other regional countries, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or broaden the restrictions to overseas Chinese firms, although this latter option would be more challenging to enforce, analysts noted.