As the United States contemplates stricter trade regulations aimed at preventing advanced chip technology from reaching China, Nvidia, a major American chip manufacturer, is reportedly developing a modified version of its new artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these prospective rules.
According to a report from Reuters, Nvidia is designing a version of its Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market, working in partnership with a local distributor, Inspur. The upcoming chip is tentatively named the “B20,” with plans for it to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025.
Nvidia has already created three chips that are intended to meet U.S. export restrictions, including the H20. Recently, Nvidia lowered the prices of the H20 in response to decreased sales and competition from Chinese rival Huawei. However, reports suggest that sales of the H20 are now on the rise, with Nvidia expected to sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion, despite existing U.S. trade barriers. This forecast nearly doubles Huawei’s anticipated sales for its Ascend 910B chip.
Despite the positive outlook for the H20, analysts from Jeffries caution that these chips may face new risks under impending U.S. trade regulations. They predict that during the upcoming annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, there is a strong possibility that the H20 could be prohibited from being sold to China. Such a ban could be implemented through various methods, such as a specific product ban, an adjustment to computing power limits, or a restriction on memory capacity.
Additionally, the U.S. may expand its export controls to semiconductor shipments to other countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or even to overseas Chinese companies, though implementing these measures could prove more complicated.