According to U.S. media reports, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said on Friday that the company is discussing a potential new computer chip designed for China with the Trump administration.

Huang was asked about the development of a "B30A" semiconductor for Chinese artificial intelligence data centers during his visit to Taiwan, where he was meeting with NVIDIA's main manufacturing partners and the world's largest chipmaker, TSMC.

"I am providing a new product to China for... artificial intelligence data centers, the successor to H20," Huang said. However, he added, "This is not a decision we have made. Of course, it depends on the U.S. government. We are in dialogue with them, but it's too early to know now."

Such chips are graphics processing units or GPUs, devices used to build and update a range of artificial intelligence systems. But they are less powerful than NVIDIA's current top-tier semiconductors, which cannot be sold to China due to U.S. national security restrictions.

B30A is based on NVIDIA's specialized Blackwell technology, and it runs at about half the speed of NVIDIA's main B300 chip, according to reports.

Huang praised the Trump administration for recently approving the sale of NVIDIA's H20 chips to China after suspending them in April, but with the condition that the company must pay a 15% tax on these sales to the U.S. government. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was also told to pay the same tax for selling its MI380 chips to China.

As part of a broader trade negotiation, Beijing and Washington recently agreed to remove some non-tariff restrictions. China approved more licenses for the export of rare earth magnets to the U.S., while Washington lifted restrictions on chip design software and jet engines. The sale of H20 chips also proceeded smoothly under Huang's lobbying.

When asked, Huang did not directly comment on the tax, but said that NVIDIA is happy to sell the H20 to China.

He said that this sale would not pose a security risk to the U.S. Huang said that NVIDIA is also negotiating with Beijing to assure Chinese authorities that these chips do not pose a "backdoor" security risk.

"We have clearly stated and set aside that the H20 has no security backdoor. There is no such thing. Never. Therefore, I hope our response to the Chinese government is sufficient," he said.

The Chinese National Internet Information Office, China's internet regulatory authority, recently posted a notice on its website mentioning that NVIDIA computer chips are suspected of having "serious security issues."

It said that U.S. AI experts had indicated that such chips have "mature tracking, location, and remote shutdown technologies," and NVIDIA has been asked to explain any such risks and provide documents related to the issue.

Huang said that NVIDIA was surprised by these allegations and is discussing the issue with Beijing.

"As you know, they have requested and urged us to obtain an H20 license within a certain period. I have worked very hard to help them get the license. Therefore, I hope this issue can be resolved," Huang said.

Lutnick said in an interview with CNBC that the U.S. strategy is to keep China dependent on U.S. chip technology.

"We will not sell them our best," he said. "Not our second-best. Not even our third-best, but I think the fourth-best is where we are cool," he said.

The Chinese government has made technological self-reliance a strategic priority.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841156493735936/

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