As the U.S. considers implementing stricter trade restrictions to prevent advanced chip technologies from being delivered to China, Nvidia, the American chipmaker, is reportedly developing a version of its new artificial intelligence chips that complies with these regulations.
Nvidia is designing a variant of its Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market, according to anonymous sources cited by Reuters. The company plans to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to launch and market the chip, tentatively named the “B20,” in China.
The B20 is anticipated to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025, as reported by a source. Nvidia has chosen not to comment on this development.
Nvidia currently has three chips tailored to align with U.S. export controls, including the H20, for which the company recently reduced prices due to sluggish sales in order to compete with chips from Chinese rival Huawei. Nonetheless, sales of the H20 are reportedly increasing. Sources indicate that Nvidia is projected to sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, valued at approximately $12 billion, despite ongoing U.S. trade restrictions. This projection is nearly double Huawei’s anticipated sales for its Ascend 910B chip, based on data from SemiAnalysis.
However, there are concerns that the H20 chips could face additional risks under potential new U.S. trade regulations, according to analysts at Jefferies. They suggest that during the U.S. annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, it is highly probable that the H20 will be prohibited from being sold to China. Possible methods for this ban could include a product-specific ban, a reduction in the computing power cap, or limits on memory capacity, the analysts indicated.
Furthermore, the U.S. might also broaden its export controls on chips sold to other countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or extend these controls to overseas Chinese enterprises, although such measures would be more challenging to enforce, analysts noted.