The Chinese market is hard to let go! Nvidia is reportedly set to launch a new version of the H20 chip to circumvent the U.S. ban.

On May 9, the Financial Association reported (Editor: Bian Chun) that according to media sources citing informed individuals, after the United States restricted the export of H20 artificial intelligence chips to China, NVIDIA plans to launch a downgraded version of H20 for the Chinese market within the next two months.

Sources say that NVIDIA has notified major Chinese customers, including some leading cloud computing providers, of its plan to release a revised H20 chip in July.

NVIDIA has set new technical thresholds to guide the development of redesigned chip designs. Sources indicate that the performance of the new version H20 will be significantly downgraded compared to the original version, including a substantial reduction in memory capacity. Downstream customers may modify module configurations to adjust the performance level of the chips.

Since 2022, the United States has restricted NVIDIA from exporting its most advanced chips to China. H20 is a chip specifically designed by NVIDIA for the Chinese market in response to U.S. export control policies.

H20 was once the most powerful artificial intelligence chip approved by NVIDIA for sale in China, but it has effectively been banned from the Chinese market after U.S. officials informed the company last month that H20 exports would require a license.

The reason the Trump administration expanded restrictions on chip sales to China to H20 is due to concerns over China's rapid advances in artificial intelligence technology. In January of this year, Chinese tech company DeepSeek launched a groundbreaking AI chatbot that shocked the world. H20 is one of the chips used by DeepSeek.

According to previous media reports, since the release of the DeepSeek artificial intelligence model in January this year, the demand for H20 chips in the Chinese market has steadily increased. In the first three months of this year, Chinese companies, including ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent Holdings, have ordered at least $16 billion worth of H20 chips from Nvidia.

Media reported last month that since January, NVIDIA has accumulated H20 orders worth $18 billion.

Strive to maintain the Chinese market

Modifying the design of the H20 chip to comply with U.S. export controls is Nvidia's latest attempt to maintain its market share in China.

China is one of NVIDIA's key markets. NVIDIA has long opposed the U.S. expanding chip export controls to China. Financial reports show that for the fiscal year ending January 26, 2025, NVIDIA's total revenue was approximately $130.5 billion, with revenue from China at $17.108 billion, the highest ever, accounting for 13% of total sales.

On the 17th of last month, just a few days after the U.S. government decided to impose controls on Nvidia's export of the H20 chip to China, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited Beijing, highlighting China's strategic importance.

During a meeting with Chinese officials, Huang Renxun stated that China is a very important market for Nvidia and hopes to continue collaborating with China. He also mentioned that Nvidia will continue to make every effort to optimize its product system in compliance with regulatory requirements, steadfastly serving the Chinese market.

Source: Kechuangban Daily

Author: Bian Chun