Nvidia to sell sanctions-busting AI chip to China
US chipmaker Nvidia has developed an AI chip that will comply with US export rules, enabling the firm to sell to Chinese suppliers.
According to unconfirmed rumours reported by Reuters, Nvidia's H20 AI chip was originally scheduled for launch in November. However, the launch date was abandoned as server manufacturers were having problems integrating the chip.
In addition to the H20, Nvidia also developed two more sanctions-busting products: the L20 and L2. And this follows the announcement last month that Nvidia had started selling a China-exclusive advanced graphics GPU – RTX 4090D – designed for gaming markets.
Clearly Nvidia needs to claw back some of the revenue lost when export restrictions barred it from shipping products including its A800 and H800 AI chips to China. The H20, L20 and L2 include most of Nvidia's newest features for AI applications processing but with reduced computing power.
However, there is still some uncertainty surrounding these products. Reuters previously reported that Chinese companies would rather work with domestic alternatives from Baidu and Huawei than buy the downgraded US alternatives.
