[News] NVIDIA Reportedly Develops China-Focused Blackwell AI Chip, with Test Samples Possibly in Sep.

Caught between China’s push for domestic AI chips and U.S. export controls, NVIDIA is reportedly developing a new China-focused AI chip based on its Blackwell architecture. According to Reuters, the chip, tentatively called the B30A, aims to outperform the H20—the most advanced model it is currently allowed to sell in the Chinese market.

The B30A will feature a single-die design, delivering roughly half the computing power of NVIDIA’s dual-die B300 accelerator, sources told Reuters. While specifications are not final, the company plans to provide Chinese clients with test samples as early as next month, the report adds.

As Reuters reported last week, shortly after NVIDIA agreed to give 15% of its China sales to the U.S. administration, President Trump flagged that NVIDIA has a reduced version of its Blackwell chip—cut by 30%–50% and likely intended for China—and said he is considering whether to approve its sale.

More details have emerged. According to Reuters, the B30A will feature HBM and NVIDIA’s NVLink for fast processor-to-processor data transfer. Tom’s Hardware notes that even with a 30%–50% performance drop, NVIDIA’s B100, B200, or B300 GPUs would still offer significant computing power to Chinese users.

As Tom’s Hardware explains, currently, China’s top choice, the NVIDIA H20 HGX GPU, delivers 148 FP16/BF16 TFLOPS and 296 FP8 TFLOPS for AI tasks. By comparison, a B100 cut by 50% would still achieve 900 FP16/BF16 TFLOPS, 1.75 FP8 PFLOPS, and 3.5 FP4 PFLOPS—levels unmatched by any Chinese-made AI accelerator.

More China-Tailored Chips on the Way?

The B30A might not be NVIDIA’s only move. Reuters reports that NVIDIA is developing a China-specific Blackwell AI inference chip, the RTX6000D. Priced below the H20 with simpler specs, small batches are expected to reach Chinese customers as early as September, according to sources cited by the report.

Based on recent developments and the possibility that NVIDIA will push to meet its original shipment targets, TrendForce has raised its estimate of China’s procurement ratio for foreign AI chips (mainly from NVIDIA and AMD) to 49%, up from previously projected 42%.

TrendForce explains that for now, the H20 chips shipped in 2024 primarily use HBM3 8hi, with an upgrade to HBM3e 8hi and increased total capacity expected in early 2025. As China’s domestic ASIC makers face export restrictions on HBM, many of their products still rely on previously sourced HBM2e. As a result, the H20 is likely to gain favor, contributing to a higher share of total HBM consumption.

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(Photo credit: NVIDIA’s X)