NVIDIA B30 AI Chip for China Ships Q4, 40% Cheaper

According to reports, NVIDIA is reportedly preparing to launch a new China-specific AI chip, the B30, in the fourth quarter of this year. The B30 will feature GDDR7 memory instead of the HBM used in previous models, with AI performance expected to be 10-20% lower than the H20. However, pricing will be 30-40% cheaper, offering a competitive alternative in the market.

The B30 is a downgraded variant of the H20, developed in response to U.S. export restrictions that blocked H20 sales to China in April 2024. This restriction significantly reduced NVIDIA's market presence in the region. Analysts estimate that NVIDIA has prepared up to 1.2 million units of the B30 to address this gap.

Although the U.S. government has recently lifted the ban on H20 exports, NVIDIA is unlikely to restart H20 production. After the initial ban, NVIDIA canceled customer orders and relinquished its reserved production capacity at TSMC, which has since been allocated to other clients. Restarting H20 production from scratch could take up to nine months.

Reports suggest that approximately one million H20 units remain in inventory within the Taiwan semiconductor ecosystem, with around 700,000 units already in finished form. NVIDIA is expected to focus on selling these remaining H20 stocks without increasing new production, instead channeling efforts into promoting the B30.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang recently commented on the situation, indicating that replenishing the H20 supply for China may be challenging. He noted, “We'll compare what customers want now with the inventory we still have. It may not be 100%, but it's also not zero.”