Nvidia Set to Give China the Solution It Needs to Compete in AI: Blackwell Chips Against Restrictions

In March 2024, Nvidia unveiled its new Blackwell B200 chip. A monster of a processor with 208 billion transistors, it is considered the most advanced for artificial intelligence at the moment. Every major tech company wants it. It is what allowed Nvidia to become the most valuable company in the world. But not everyone likes Nvidia’s technology.

Due to restrictions imposed by the US government, China Doesn’t Have Access to Nvidia’s Latest ProductsFor now, Chinese firms are looking at alternatives such as cloud computing, but these are a patchwork compared to directly using Nvidia’s best chips.

But that’s about to change. While a few weeks ago we knew about Nvidia’s plans to sell its graphics processors in the Middle East, a much more ambitious strategy is now being proposed: According to Reuters, Nvidia will also sell its latest chips in China.

Nvidia to Build Blackwell Versions Specifically for China

The B200 chipsets will enter mass production later this year. They represent a huge leap forward: up to 20 petaflops of performance in liquid-cooled data centers, according to multiple sources familiar with the project. Nvidia will work with Inspur, one of its major distributors in China.to create an alternative version of the B200 that could be sold in the Asian country.

This version of the B200 will be codenamed B20 and will retain the same specs. Since the chip restrictions were introduced, Nvidia has made three specific versions of its chips for the Chinese market. But this has not been its most advanced processor to date.

Nvidia’s L2, L20, and H20a were all GPUs approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce for sale in China, but their top-end model, the H20, was nearly seven times slower than the H100. Let’s see how the B20 compares to the B200.

Nvidia’s interest in China is no coincidence. It is a huge market, representing about 17% of Nvidia’s annual revenueThat’s a huge percentage, but it’s down from the 26% it was two years ago, before the United States decided to veto it over concerns the technology would boost China’s military capabilities.

With this move, Nvidia wants to regain its position in China. At the moment They have sold over a million H20 GPUs this year.which is equivalent to approximately $12 billion.

We’ll see if the B20 GPUs arrive later this year or if, like the H20, they’ll end up being delayed. The battle for AI is a big one, and no company has what Nvidia has.

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