As the United States considers implementing stricter trade restrictions to prevent advanced chip technology from reaching China, Nvidia, a chip manufacturer based in the U.S., is reportedly developing a new version of its artificial intelligence chips to adhere to these regulations.
According to reports from Reuters, Nvidia is working with a local distribution partner, Inspur, to produce and market the chip, which is tentatively named the “B20,” specifically for the Chinese market. The B20 is anticipated to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025.
Nvidia has already introduced three chips designed to align with U.S. export controls, including the H20 chip, which the company has reduced prices on due to weak sales, in order to compete with chips produced by the local competitor Huawei. However, sales of the H20 chip have begun to increase, with projections indicating that Nvidia may sell over one million H20 units in China this year, amounting to an estimated $12 billion, despite ongoing U.S. trade restrictions. This sales forecast is nearly double Huawei’s expectations for its Ascend 910B chip.
Nevertheless, analysts at Jefferies have raised concerns that Nvidia’s H20 chips may face additional risks due to potential changes in U.S. trade regulations. As part of the annual review of U.S. semiconductor export controls scheduled for October, it is deemed “highly likely” that the H20 could be banned from being sold in China. Analysts noted that this could be enacted through various measures, including a product-specific ban, lowering the computing power limits, or imposing restrictions on memory capacity.
Furthermore, there are indications that the U.S. might broaden its export controls on chips sold to other countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, or potentially extend these controls to overseas Chinese companies, although the latter would pose greater implementation challenges.