As the United States evaluates stricter trade regulations to impede advanced chip technology from entering China, Nvidia, a prominent U.S. semiconductor manufacturer, is reportedly developing a version of its new artificial intelligence chips tailored to comply with these regulations.
Nvidia is reportedly creating a variant of its Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market, according to unnamed sources cited by Reuters. The company plans to collaborate with a local distributor, Inspur, to introduce and market the chip, which is preliminarily named the “B20,” in China.
Sources indicate that the B20 is anticipated to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not commented on this development.
Nvidia has already designed three chips to adhere to American export restrictions, including the H20 model, for which it recently reduced prices due to lackluster sales, aiming to compete with chips from its domestic rival Huawei. However, H20 sales have reportedly begun to pick up, with projections suggesting Nvidia will sell over one million H20 chips in China this year, valued at approximately $12 billion, despite existing U.S. trade barriers. This figure nearly doubles Huawei’s forecast for its Ascend 910B chip, based on data from SemiAnalysis.
On the other hand, Jefferies analysts caution that Nvidia’s H20 chips could face risks under potential new U.S. trade regulations. They anticipate that during the upcoming annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, it is “highly likely” that the sale of the H20 to China will be prohibited. Analysts noted that this ban could manifest through various methods including a product-specific restriction, a reduction in the computing power threshold, or limitations on memory capacity.
Additionally, the U.S. might broaden export controls on chips destined for other countries in the region like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or it could apply these controls to overseas Chinese firms, although this latter action would be more challenging to implement, analysts suggest.