As the United States contemplates stricter trade limitations to stop advanced chip technology from reaching China, U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturer Nvidia is reportedly developing a modified version of its latest artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these regulations.
According to Reuters, which quoted anonymous sources familiar with the situation, Nvidia is creating a variant of its new Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. The chipmaker plans to collaborate with a local distributor, Inspur, to introduce and sell the chip, provisionally named the “B20,” in China.
Expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025, the B20’s development has yet to receive confirmation from Nvidia.
Nvidia has already introduced three chips designed to align with U.S. export controls. Among these is the H20, for which Nvidia reduced prices to boost competitiveness against products from the domestic rival Huawei. Recent reports indicate that sales of the H20 are on the rise, with expectations to sell over one million units in China this year, amounting to around $12 billion, despite existing U.S. trade restrictions. This forecast is nearly double Huawei’s anticipated sales for its Ascend 910B chip, based on data from SemiAnalysis.
However, analysts from Jefferies have warned that Nvidia’s H20 chips may face risks under impending U.S. trade regulations. They noted that during the upcoming annual review of U.S. semiconductor export controls in October, it is highly probable that the H20 could be prohibited from being sold to China. Such a ban might come about through a targeted prohibition, a reduction in computing power limits, or restrictions on memory capacity.
Additionally, there is potential for the U.S. to widen export controls on chips sold to other nations in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or to apply these controls to overseas Chinese firms, though implementing such measures could prove challenging.