Nvidia is working on a version of its new flagship artificial intelligence chips for the Chinese market that would be compatible with U.S. export controls, four sources familiar with the matter said.
The AI chip giant in March unveiled its Blackwell chip series, which is due to be produced later in the year. The new processors combine two squares of silicon the size of the company's previous offering. Within the series, the B200 is 30 times speedier than its predecessor at some tasks like serving up answers from chatbots.
Nvidia will work with Inspur, one of its major distributor partners in China, on the launch and distribution of the chip tentatively named the B20, two of the sources said. Shipments of the B20 are planned to start in the second quarter of 2025, a separate source told Reuters.
Nvidia has yet to make a public announcement.
A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment. Inspur didn't respond to requests for comment.
Shares of Nvidia rose 4% in the stock market through midday trading Monday.
Washington tightened its controls on exports of cutting-edge semiconductors to China in 2023, seeking to prevent breakthroughs in supercomputing that would aid the Chinese Communist Party's military.
Since then, Nvidia has developed three chips tailored specifically for the Chinese market.
The advent of tighter U.S. export controls has helped Chinese technology giant Huawei and startups like Tencent-backed Enflame make inroads into the domestic market for advanced AI processors.
A version of a chip from Nvidia's Blackwell series for the Chinese market would boost the U.S. firm's efforts to fend off those challenges.
China accounted for 17% of Nvidia's revenue for the year ended in January in the wake of U.S. sanctions, sliding from 26% two years earlier.
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 Santa Clara, California-based 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 upward of $12 billion, according to an estimate from research group SemiAnalysis.
Expectations are high that the U.S. will continue to keep up the pressure on semiconductor-related export controls.
The U.S. wants the Netherlands and Japan to further restrict chipmaking equipment to China, sources have said.
The Biden administration also hasplans to place guardrails around the most advanced AI models, the core software of artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, sources have said.
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