As the United States contemplates stricter trade restrictions aimed at preventing advanced chip technology from reaching China, Nvidia, a prominent U.S.-based chip manufacturer, is reportedly developing a version of its innovative artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these impending regulations.
According to reports, Nvidia is collaborating with a local distribution partner, Inspur, to introduce its new chip, tentatively named the “B20,” to the Chinese market. This version of the Blackwell AI chips is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025, although Nvidia has refrained from providing further comments on the matter.
Nvidia has previously designed three chips to align with U.S. export controls, including the H20 chip, for which the company lowered prices in response to sluggish sales and competition from the Chinese firm Huawei. Notably, sales for the H20 have recently increased, with projections indicating that Nvidia may sell over one million units in China this year, translating to approximately $12 billion, despite ongoing U.S. trade restrictions. This forecast is nearly double Huawei’s anticipated sales for its Ascend 910B chip.
However, the future of Nvidia’s H20 chips could be jeopardized under new U.S. trade regulations. Analysts from Jeffries have suggested that during the upcoming annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, there is a strong likelihood that the H20 could be banned for sale to China. Potential methods for imposing this ban could include a direct product prohibition, a reduction in the allowable computing power, or limitations on memory capacity.
Furthermore, there is speculation that the U.S. could expand its export controls to cover chips sold to other countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or could even apply these controls to overseas Chinese companies, although executing this would be more complex.