[News] NVIDIA RTX6000D Reportedly Fails to Gain Traction in China, Stock Surplus Looms

According to Reuters, sources note that demand for NVIDIA’s RTX6000D — the company’s newest AI chip aimed at the Chinese market — has been tepid, with some leading tech firms choosing not to place orders. Reuters adds that NVIDIA began shipping the RTX6000D this week.

The reported situation might leave the company with a sizable stockpile of unsold GPUs, as Tom’s Hardware points out, with investment banks estimating production of 1.5 million to 2 million units by year-end.

Reuters also notes that the RTX6000D, built primarily for AI inference workloads, is considered expensive relative to its capabilities. Sources cited by Reuters said sample tests showed the chip lags behind the RTX5090 in performance. The RTX5090, while prohibited from official sale in China under U.S. export restrictions, remains widely available through grey-market channels at less than half the RTX6000D’s roughly 50,000 yuan ($7,000) price tag.

Chinese tech giants are reportedly cautious about purchasing the RTX6000D. Reuters notes that companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance are reportedly holding back as they wait for clarity on whether orders for NVIDIA’s H20 will proceed. Although the U.S. firm regained approval to sell the H20 in July, shipments have yet to resume, Reuters notes.

At the same time, these firms are hoping Washington will authorize sales of NVIDIA’s B30A — a chip more powerful than the H20. According to Wccftech, the RTX6000D is NVIDIA’s first Blackwell-based product for China, featuring GDDR7 memory, TSMC’s 4nm process, and about 1,100GB/s of bandwidth. In contrast, the B30A is another Blackwell GPU built on TSMC’s 4nm node but paired with 8-Hi HBM3E and a dual-chiplet architecture. Wccftech notes this design promises a substantial performance boost over the H20.

NVIDIA Under Growing Pressure in China

NVIDIA is also under mounting pressure in China. CNBC reports that the country’s market regulator said Monday a preliminary probe found the company in violation of anti-monopoly law, with Beijing expected to continue its investigation. Last month, according to Reuters, the Cyberspace Administration of China reportedly summoned firms including Tencent, ByteDance, and Baidu to explain their purchases of NVIDIA’s H20. Bloomberg adds that authorities have also reportedly urged companies to avoid using the H20.

Read more

• [News] NVIDIA Reportedly Develops China-Focused Blackwell AI Chip, with Test Samples Possibly in Sep.
• [News] Beijing Says NVIDIA Violated Anti-Monopoly Law, Potential Fines Up to 10% of China Sales

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)