Key Takeaways
- Nvidia (NVDA) is developing the B30A (half the power of B300, with HBM + NVLink) and RTX6000D (1,398 GB/s bandwidth, shipping in September).
- Nvidia/AMD must give the U.S. 15% of China sales; Trump suggested selling a 30–50% scaled-down Blackwell chip.
- China makes up 13% of Nvidia’s revenue, but Nvidia faces Huawei competition and security risk claims from Chinese state media.
Nvidia’s New B30A AI Chip for China
Nvidia is developing a new AI chip for China, tentatively named the B30A, that will be more powerful than the currently available H20, said on Tuesday. Built on the company’s Blackwell architecture, the B30A will use a single-die design expected to deliver about half the raw computing power of the flagship B300 dual-die accelerator card. It will feature high-bandwidth memory and NVLink interconnect technology, similar to the H20, which was based on the older Hopper architecture.
Though final specifications are not confirmed, Nvidia hopes to deliver sample units to Chinese clients as early as next month. The company emphasized that all its products are released only with full government approval and are designed for beneficial commercial use.
U.S. Policy and Revenue-Sharing Deal
The future of the B30A depends heavily on U.S. regulatory approval. Earlier this month, Nvidia and rival AMD agreed to give the U.S. government a 15% share of their sales in China to resume chip shipments. Former President Donald Trump initially requested 20%, but Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang negotiated the figure down to 15%. Trump has also suggested permitting a scaled-down Blackwell chip in China, with 30% to 50% of its power cut.
While Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick praised Huang’s efforts, bipartisan lawmakers remain wary that even restricted AI chips could strengthen China’s AI development. Following the news, Nvidia’s stock slipped more than 3% in line with broader market declines.
China Market, RTX6000D, and Competition
China accounted for 13% of Nvidia’s revenue in the past fiscal year, making it a critical but contentious market. Nvidia only regained permission to sell the H20 in July, after sales were halted in April under tightened restrictions. To safeguard its foothold, Nvidia is preparing another China-specific chip, the RTX6000D, also based on Blackwell but tailored for AI inference tasks. The RTX6000D uses GDDR memory with 1,398 GB/s bandwidth, just below the 1.4 TB/s threshold defined by U.S. export rules, and will be priced lower than the H20 due to weaker specifications. Nvidia expects to deliver small batches to Chinese clients in September.
However, competition is intensifying as Huawei advances in chip design—matching Nvidia in some computing capabilities, though still lagging in memory bandwidth and software ecosystem support. Adding to the challenge, Chinese state media have accused Nvidia’s chips of security risks, pressuring local firms to limit H20 purchases.
Market Update Into September 7th: Inflation Data Incoming