[News] NVIDIA Reportedly May Revive RTX 3060 on Samsung 8nm Amid China Curbs, TSMC Constraints

NVIDIA is reportedly considering reviving some of its older GPUs. According to Hankyung, industry sources say Samsung’s foundry division will resume production of NVIDIA’s RTX 3060 after a two-year halt, with the chip set to be manufactured on Samsung’s 8nm process. The report adds that Samsung’s foundry may soon begin producing the RTX 3060.

One key driver behind the move appears to be U.S. export restrictions on NVIDIA’s high-performance GPUs to China, including the Hopper and Blackwell series, the report notes. Although NVIDIA introduced products such as the H20 to work around the restrictions, the U.S. government later placed these chips under a licensing regime, effectively halting exports.

As a result, NVIDIA is reportedly exploring alternative ways to serve the Chinese market by restarting production of older GPUs. While these chips are primarily designed for gaming graphics, they can also support AI development depending on how they are deployed, the report adds. Meanwhile, according to Reuters, citing Financial Times, NVIDIA has also recently been said to have halted production of its China-bounded H200 chips and redirected related TSMC capacity to its next-generation Vera Rubin hardware.

At the same time, tightening GPU supply driven by surging global demand for AI semiconductors is also contributing to the decision. During a press conference at CES 2026 in Las Vegas in January, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said that bringing back older GPUs might help ease chip shortages, Hankyung indicates.

As for why NVIDIA may revive the RTX 3060 rather than a newer model such as the RTX 4060, the rationale remains unclear, though it may relate to TSMC capacity allocation. The RTX 4060 is produced on TSMC’s NVIDIA 4N process—the same node used for the RTX 5060—while the RTX 3060 and other Ampere GPUs are built on Samsung’s 8N (8nm DUV) node, according to TechPowerUp.

RTX 3060 Revival Could Lift Samsung Foundry Utilization

From Samsung’s perspective, reviving RTX 3060 production could help lift the company’s foundry utilization rate and support its return to profitability, according to industry observers cited by Hankyung. The RTX 3060 will be produced on Samsung’s 8nm process, which has a manufacturing capacity of roughly 30,000 to 40,000 wafers per month based on wafer input—about 10% of Samsung’s total foundry capacity.

The development may also open the door to deeper foundry cooperation between Samsung and NVIDIA. Hankyung notes that the NVIDIA GPU used in Nintendo’s latest gaming console, the Switch 2, has also been awarded to Samsung and is being manufactured using the 8nm process. The report says that if Samsung can reliably supply NVIDIA using the 8nm node, the partnership could potentially lead to additional orders in the future.

Read more

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(Photo credit: NVIDIA)