As the United States contemplates stricter trade regulations to restrict the export of advanced chip technology to China, Nvidia, the American chip manufacturer, is reportedly developing a new version of its artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these guidelines.
Nvidia is said to be working on a variant of its Blackwell AI chips for the Chinese market, with plans to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to launch the chip, which is tentatively named the “B20.” According to sources close to the situation, the B20 is expected to commence shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not provided any comments regarding these reports.
The company currently offers three chips specifically designed to meet U.S. export control regulations, including the H20 chip, which Nvidia has adjusted the pricing for due to sluggish sales in order to better compete with chips from China’s Huawei. Recent reports indicate that sales for the H20 have started to pick up, with Nvidia projected to sell over one million units in China this year, generating approximately $12 billion in revenue, despite existing U.S. trade barriers. This expected performance is nearly double that of Huawei’s anticipated sales for its Ascend 910B chip.
However, analysts from Jefferies have warned that Nvidia’s H20 chips might face challenges under impending U.S. trade regulations. As the annual review of semiconductor export controls is due in October, analysts suggest that it is quite probable the H20 could be prohibited from sale to China. Such a ban could be enacted through various means, such as a product-specific ban, lowering the computational power limitations, or capping memory capacity.
Furthermore, there are indications that the U.S. may expand its export restrictions to include chips sold to other nations in the region, like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or even extend controls to overseas Chinese companies, albeit such measures would present greater complexities in enforcement, according to analysts.