Nvidiaplans a new AI chip for China, maybe out by September. The Financial Times says this chip comes from Nvidia’s Blackwell RTX Pro 6000, tweaked to follow tough U.S. export rules. Those rules, tightened in 2022 and again by Trump, block fancy tech like high-speed memory and NVLink, which makes data move fast. Nvidia’s being careful, checking with the U.S. to avoid a ban right after launch. Chip details might change based on what Washington says.
Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s boss, heads to Beijing next week for a supply chain expo. He wants to show China that Nvidia’s still in, even with U.S. restrictions. Huang might meet big shots like Premier Li Qiang, a first for him. Last April, he talked with Vice-Premier He Lifeng. Nvidia’s trying to keep China happy, where it makes $17.1 billion, about 13% of its sales. At a Taiwan tech show, Huang called U.S. export limits a “failure.” He said they pushed China to make their own chips, cutting Nvidia’s share there from 95% to 50%.
Chinese firms want 115,000 Nvidia chips for desert data centers, per Bloomberg. These could power AI models like DeepSeek’s and Zhipu’s. But U.S. bans make getting these chips tricky, and nobody knows how China would pull it off. Some say 25,000 banned chips are already in China, enough for one medium data center. U.S. officials, like Jeffrey Kessler from Commerce, admit smuggling’s real but don’t agree on numbers. Nvidia says building data centers with smuggled chips doesn’t make sense when Huawei’s chips are around. They don’t help with banned products either.
Big Chinese companies like Alibaba and Tencent tested the new chip. They like it, but not as much as Nvidia’s older H20 chip, banned in April, costing Nvidia $5.5 billion. Clients worry about depending on Nvidia with U.S. rules changing. Some look at Huawei’s chips instead. Nvidia sees a $50 billion AI market in China soon, so it’s pushing hard to stay in. Huang’s trip aims to lock in Nvidia’s spot in this huge market.
Stocking up on chips for China is risky for Nvidia if U.S. policies flip again. Chinese developers build open-source AI models for non-military use. Nvidia says these should run on U.S. tech for best results. Huang’s Beijing talks and the chip’s launch will shape Nvidia’s future in China’s fast-growing AI world. Geopolitics, tech, and money all mix in this tricky game.
