As the United States explores stricter trade regulations to prevent advanced chip technology from being exported to China, Nvidia, a major American chip manufacturer, is reportedly developing a new version of its artificial intelligence chips tailored to comply with these regulations.
According to sources cited by Reuters, Nvidia is collaborating with Chinese distributor Inspur to introduce and market a new chip, provisionally named the “B20,” specifically for the Chinese market. The B20 is anticipated to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025.
Nvidia has already designed three chips to meet U.S. export control requirements, including the H20, which the company reduced prices for due to sluggish sales resulting from competition with domestic rival Huawei. Despite the challenges, H20 sales have recently improved, with projections suggesting that Nvidia could sell over one million of these chips in China this year, amounting to approximately $12 billion, despite existing U.S. trade limitations.
However, analysts from Jeffries have indicated that Nvidia’s H20 chips may face further risk under impending U.S. trade regulations. They predict that during the U.S. annual review of semiconductor export controls in October, the H20 could be prohibited from being sold to China. Potential methods for such a ban include implementing product-specific restrictions, reducing the computing power threshold, or capping memory capacity.
Additionally, the U.S. may consider extending export restrictions on chips to other countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or even targeting overseas Chinese companies, although the latter would present more challenges for enforcement.