[Source/Observer Network, Liu Chenghui] According to a May 17 report by Nikkei Asia, in response to the increasingly stringent export controls imposed by the U.S. government and competition from China's domestic chips, NVIDIA plans to release a downgraded version of its H20 AI chip based on the Hopper architecture in the next quarter. This chip will remove high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and instead use GDDR7 memory to comply with U.S. export restrictions. Meanwhile, NVIDIA is also developing the Blackwell chip specifically designed for the Chinese market, which will also use GDDR7 memory, and is expected to be released later this year.

Previously, after the Biden administration tightened export restrictions on AI chips to China, NVIDIA launched the H20 chip, a China-specific version based on the Hopper architecture in 2023. However, the U.S. government expanded its restrictions to this chip in April this year, resulting in NVIDIA expecting a revenue loss of $5.5 billion in the first quarter.

According to three sources familiar with the matter, this further downgraded chip will not be equipped with high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is optimized for AI and supercomputing. One source said that to comply with U.S. export restrictions, the chip will switch to GDDR7 memory.

The sources also revealed that NVIDIA is preparing the Blackwell architecture chip specifically designed for the Chinese market, with plans to release it later this year. A person familiar with the matter said that this China-specific chip will also use GDDR7 instead of HBM to meet regulatory requirements.

"Although our H20 product cannot be remanufactured or modified as rumored, we are still evaluating limited options for the Chinese market," an NVIDIA spokesperson said.

On March 18, Huang Renxun introduced the new products at SAP Center. Visual China

A source familiar with the matter said that despite modifications and the lack of HBM, these new chips specifically for the Chinese market will remain competitive in the market.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has consistently opposed restrictions on exports to China. In March, when asked about export controls to China, Huang pointed out that approximately half of the world's AI researchers come from China, many of whom work in U.S. laboratories. At the Milken Conference held earlier this month in Los Angeles, Huang predicted that the size of China's AI chip market would reach $50 billion within a few years.

Reuters reported on May 9 about the same matter. At that time, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that due to U.S. threats to halt exports, NVIDIA plans to further downgrade the configuration of the H20 chip for the Chinese market in the next two months. Two of the people said that NVIDIA has informed its major Chinese customers of plans to release the downgraded H20 in July.

The report stated that NVIDIA has set new technical thresholds for "China-specific" chips.

A source said that this will result in a significant decrease in performance compared to the original H20, including a substantial reduction in memory capacity. Another source said that downstream customers may modify module configurations to adjust the performance level of the chips.

Reuters noted that in response to Washington's increasingly stringent export restrictions on chips to China, this latest development represents NVIDIA's latest attempt to maintain its position in one of its most critical markets - China.

Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has pledged to continue cracking down on U.S. companies' AI chip exports to China.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson previously responded, pointing out that China has repeatedly expressed its firm stance on the U.S.' malicious blockade and suppression of China's semiconductor industry. The U.S. has politicized, generalized security concerns, and instrumentalized economic and technological issues, continuously increasing export control on chips to China, coercing other countries to suppress China's semiconductor industry. Such actions hinder the development of the global semiconductor industry and will ultimately backfire, harming both others and itself.

This article is an exclusive contribution by the Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7505295190228304410/

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