Nvidia to tailor another set of new chips for China clients

US semiconductor giant Nvidia Corp will tailor new artificial intelligence (AI) chips for Chinese customers after its A800 and H800 graphics processing units (GPU) – also specifically designed for China clients – were banned under the October update to Washington’s export control regime, according to a distributor of Nvidia chips on the mainland.

Nvidia has developed a new server, the HGX H20, and two new GPUs, the L20 and L2, for Chinese customers after its A800 and H800 GPUs – previously made to meet the needs of China clients to comply with an earlier version of US export controls – were banned from being sold to Chinese clients last month, according to a sales manager at a major Beijing-based Nvidia distributor, who declined to be named.

The distributor said he was briefed on the development earlier this week and that the new chips, which comply with the latest US export rules, will be offered to China clients as replacements for the A800 and H800.

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Chinese local media outlet CLS.cn, an online tech and financial news app, first reported news of Nvidia’s new chips for China clients on Thursday. According to the report, the three new products have been modified from a base version of the H100 GPU, a high-end GPU used for AI training that was also blocked from being sold to China in August 2022.

Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

If Nvidia confirms the move, it would be another sign of how important the Chinese market is for US chip firms and how far some of them are prepared to go to remain compliant with Washington’s evolving restrictions.

US chip maker Micron Technology, whose products were subjected to a partial sales ban in China earlier this year, had a booth for the first time at this month’s China International Import Expo in Shanghai in a show of its commitment to the Chinese market.

October’s tighter US export controls, aimed at reining back China’s AI and semiconductor manufacturing ambitions, will ban sales of the A800 and H800 GPUs to China after November 17. They have been in high demand from clients such as Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Nvidia said in a stock exchange filing dated October 24 that the export rules would be “effectively immediately”, raising concerns among Chinese tech clients that they would be unable to receive orders already placed.

Nvidia generated about 20 to 25 per cent of its data centre revenue from the Chinese market in the latest quarter. In the second quarter ended June 2023, data centre revenue hit a record US$10.32 billion, up 171 per cent from the same period a year ago.