H20 Ban Pushes NVIDIA B300 Production to May
According to reports from Taiwanese media, NVIDIA's latest B300 chip production schedule has been moved up, with manufacturing now set to begin in May. Industry sources reveal that the B300 will utilize TSMC's 5nm process family and the CoWoS-L advanced packaging technology. The chip will continue to build on NVIDIA's previous Bianca architecture, allowing for the continuity of component and ODM manufacturing processes. This transition is expected to facilitate the mass production of the GB300 chip by the end of this year.
Industry insiders speculate that the B300 was chosen as a replacement to fill the production gap left by the H20's suspension. Given that the Blackwell architecture has already seen production success with the B200, NVIDIA is well-positioned to ramp up production quickly. Sources in the supply chain further indicate that TSMC's advanced packaging AP8 facility in Southern Taiwan began operations in early April, likely in preparation for the CoWoS-L packaging needed for the B300. Strong customer demand is driving TSMC to swiftly scale up its production capacity.
Additionally, Bill Dally, NVIDIA's Chief Scientist, recently shared insights at TSMC's North American technology forum, highlighting the B200's use of CoWoS packaging for two GPUs, which allows the chip to overcome the limitations of a single reticle size (mask size). Semiconductor experts note that TSMC is expanding its portfolio of advanced packaging technologies, enabling more transistor stacking through larger package sizes, which helps break through the limits imposed by Moore's Law.
In related news, Taiwanese equipment manufacturer MuTek launched its CoWoS six-face inspection machine in February, designed for automatic optical inspection. The company, alongside its partner Huayu Yi, is aiming to capture market share from overseas industry giants. Additionally, demand for high-end AI GPU chip testing is ramping up, with increased shipments of high-end coaxial test sockets and MEMS probe cards expected to boost overall profitability.
From an ODM perspective, the GB300 computing tray will maintain the design of the GB200, which is expected to accelerate assembly progress. Since the design is complex and challenging to mass-produce, maintaining the original design could significantly enhance ODM manufacturers' delivery speed, benefiting component suppliers such as JianCe.
At this time, it remains unclear whether the B300 chips will be produced simultaneously at TSMC's Arizona wafer fab. Semiconductor industry experts suggest that while the U.S. lacks CoWoS-L packaging capabilities, any production in the U.S. would still require the chips to be sent back to Taiwan for the final processing stages.
