NVIDIA is reportedly developing the B30A AI chip for China, more powerful than H20

NVIDIA, a powerhouse in AI chip development, is reportedly cooking up something special for the Chinese market. Sources tell Reuters that the company is developing a brand-new AI chip, tentatively named B30A, which is designed to be more powerful than its H20 counterpart. This move signals NVIDIA’s continued commitment to the crucial Chinese market despite a complex regulatory landscape.

The B30A is expected to leverage NVIDIA’s cutting-edge Blackwell architecture, known for delivering significantly faster performance—between seven and 30 times quicker than previous AI platforms. Unlike the dual-die Blackwell Ultra GPUs, the B30A will feature a single-die design, consolidating its core components onto one piece of silicon. Despite this, it’s projected to offer half the computing power of the Blackwell Ultra. Furthermore, it will come equipped with high-bandwidth memory and NVIDIA’s proprietary NVLink technology, ensuring rapid data transfer between processors.

This development comes amidst a fascinating interplay of global tech politics. It appears NVIDIA is responding directly to recent signals from the Chinese government, which has reportedly discouraged local companies from utilizing the H20 chip, particularly for sensitive government and and national security applications. There were even reports that Chinese regulators ordered major tech firms like Alibaba, Bytedance, and Tencent to pause their NVIDIA purchases pending a national security review. This caution from China emerged after the US government had actually lifted its export restrictions on the H20 chips.

To put this in context, the US had initially blocked NVIDIA from selling H20 chips to China back in April, citing concerns that the chips could be used by the Chinese military for AI development. However, by July, NVIDIA announced that the US government had given assurances to approve licenses for H20 shipments to China. A Financial Times report in August further suggested that the US government had agreed to grant export licenses to NVIDIA (and AMD) in exchange for a 15 percent share of their profits from these sales.

While NVIDIA is still finalizing the B30A’s specifications, the company is reportedly aiming to deliver samples to Chinese clients for testing as early as September of this year. The political dimensions of this venture are also noteworthy. Former President Trump is reportedly already aware of NVIDIA’s plans for a Blackwell-based chip for China, with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang reportedly set to meet with him again on the matter. The ultimate question remains: will this new, more powerful chip receive the necessary regulatory and export approvals? Only time will tell how this high-stakes tech and geopolitical drama unfolds.