NVIDIA, AMD may soon start selling new AI chips in China to comply with US restrictions

To comply with the U.S.’ restrictions on exporting advanced semiconductor technology to China, chipmakers NVIDIA and AMD will soon begin selling new GPUs made for AI workloads in China, Taiwanese tech publication Digitimes reported, citing supply chain sources.

NVIDIA plans to sell a stripped-down AI GPU, code-named “B20,” while AMD is looking to target AI workload needs with its new Radeon AI PRO R9700 workstation GPU, Digitimes reported, adding that the companies will likely start selling these AI chips in China from July.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that NVIDIA is working on a new budget AI chip built on its Blackwell architecture for China that is expected to be priced at $6,500-$8,000. In comparison, the company sells its H20 GPUs for $10,000-$12,000 each.

NVIDIA on Wednesday said it had incurred a $4.5 billion charge in Q1 due to licensing requirements impacting its ability to sell its H20 AI chip to companies in China, and it couldn’t ship an additional $2.5 billion of H20 chips in the quarter due to the restrictions. The company forecast that licensing requirements would result in an $8 billion hit to the company’s revenue in Q2.