As the U.S. contemplates tighter trade restrictions to prevent advanced chip technology from being exported to China, Nvidia, the U.S.-based chip manufacturer, is reportedly developing a version of its latest artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these regulations.
According to sources cited by Reuters, Nvidia is collaborating with local distributor Inspur to introduce and market a chip known provisionally as the “B20” in China. It is anticipated that the B20 will begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has opted not to comment on the report.
Nvidia has created three chips that comply with U.S. export restrictions, including the H20, for which the company reduced prices due to sluggish sales in order to compete with Huawei’s home-grown chips. However, sales of the H20 have reportedly seen an uptick, with expectations that Nvidia will sell over one million units in China this year, translating to an estimated value of $12 billion, according to the Financial Times and SemiAnalysis data. This projection nearly doubles the anticipated sales of Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip.
Concerns about the future of Nvidia’s H20 chips persist, as Jefferies analysts indicated that further U.S. trade regulations could pose risks. Analysts suggested that in October, during its annual review of semiconductor export controls, there is a strong possibility that a ban on H20 sales to China could be implemented through various measures such as a product-specific ban, reducing the computing power threshold, or imposing limits on memory capacity.
Additionally, the U.S. may consider expanding export controls to chips sold to other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or to overseas Chinese firms, although such moves would be more complex to enforce, analysts noted.