As the United States evaluates stricter trade limitations to prevent advanced chip technology from reaching China, Nvidia, a U.S.-based chip manufacturer, is reportedly developing a version of its latest artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these regulations.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Nvidia is focusing on creating a variant of its new Blackwell AI chips intended for the Chinese market. The company plans to collaborate with a local distribution partner, Inspur, to introduce and market the chip, which is provisionally named the “B20,” in China.
The B20 is anticipated to begin shipments in the second quarter of 2025, as reported by a source. Nvidia has not provided any comments on this development.
The company currently offers three chips fashioned to comply with U.S. export restrictions, including the H20, which Nvidia has reduced prices for due to sluggish sales in an effort to compete with products from local rival Huawei. However, sales of the H20 have reportedly started to improve. Nvidia is expected to sell over one million of its H20 chips in China this year, amounting to approximately $12 billion, despite existing U.S. trade barriers. This anticipated figure is nearly double Huawei’s expected sales of its Ascend 910B chip, based on data from SemiAnalysis.
At the same time, analysts at Jefferies have indicated that Nvidia’s H20 chips might be subject to additional U.S. trade regulations. They noted that during the annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, it is highly probable that the H20 could face sales restrictions in China. Such a ban may occur through a specific product ban, a reduction in computing power limits, or restrictions on memory capacity.
Furthermore, there is the potential for the U.S. to broaden its export controls on chips sold to other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or to extend these controls to overseas Chinese firms, although implementing such measures could be more challenging, according to the analysts.