Nvidia preparing a version of new Blackwell AI chip for China market, sources say

The sources declined to be identified as Nvidia has yet to make a public announcement.

A spokesman for Nvidia declined to comment. Inspur did not respond to requests for comment.

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang unveils the company’s new Blackwell AI chip platform at an event in San Jose, California, on March 18, 2024. Photo: AP

Shares of Nvidia rose 1.4 per cent to US$119.67 in US premarket trading.

Washington tightened its controls on exports of cutting-edge semiconductors to China in 2023, seeking to prevent breakthroughs in supercomputing that would aid China’s military.

Since then, Nvidia has developed three GPUs tailored specifically for the China market.

A version of a chip from Nvidia’s Blackwell series for China would boost the Santa Clara, California-based firm’s efforts to fend off those challenges.

China accounted for around 17 per cent of Nvidia’s revenue in the 12 months to end-January in the wake of US sanctions, sliding from 26 per cent two years earlier.

A person walks pass Nvidia’s logo at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 5, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Nvidia’s most advanced chip for the China market, the H20, initially got off to a weak start when deliveries began this year and the US firm priced it below a rival chip from Huawei, Reuters reported in May.

But sales are now growing rapidly, two of the sources said.

Nvidia is on track to sell over 1 million of its H20 chips in China this year, worth upwards of US$12 billion, according to an estimate from research group SemiAnalysis.

Expectations are high that the US will continue to keep up the pressure on semiconductor-related export controls.

The US wants the Netherlands and Japan to further restrict China’s access to advanced chip-making equipment, sources have said.

Chip stocks globally tumbled last week after Bloomberg News reported that Biden’s administration was weighing a measure called the foreign direct product rule that would allow the US to stop a product from being sold if it was made using American technology.

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