NVIDIA Preps B20 “Blackwell” AI Accelerator For China, Fully Complies With US Regulations & Headed For Production Later This Year
NVIDIA Preps B20 “Blackwell” AI Accelerator For China, Fully Complies With US Regulations & Headed For Production Later This Year
NVIDIA is reportedly working on a new exclusive AI GPU for China, the B20, based on its next-gen Blackwell GPU architecture.
Update [7/23/2024] - Inspur has stated that they aren't conducting any business or cooperating related to the B20 and the news is not true.
At GTC 2024, NVIDIA unveiled its next-gen Blackwell AI GPU architecture which comes in various forms. The two primary chips powering the Blackwell platforms are the B100 and B200, featuring some powerful specifications primed at AI solutions. The first Blackwell solutions will be readily available within the second half of this year and the demand is sky-high but it looks like the green team is aiming to offer a US export-compliant variant for China too based on the same GPU architecture.
Recently, it was reported that NVIDIA's H20 AI accelerator, based on the Hopper architecture, was seeing a positive response in the China market after a lackluster launch. This was due to Huawei's inability to meet the huge AI demand within the domestic market, leading AI customers to look for a readily available solution in the form of the H20. The recent demand for these AI accelerators is expected to bring several billions of dollars in revenue for NVIDIA and this is from a variant that is cut down in specs versus the original design to meet the TPP requirements set by US authorities.
According to Reuters, NVIDIA is now working on a new China-exclusive variant based on the new Blackwell GPU architecture. This accelerator will be the successor to the H20 and will be known as B20. The outlet was able to confirm this with not one but three individual sources. NVIDIA is said to be working with Inspur who will be primarily responsible for the launch and distribution of the B20 AI accelerators in China.
NVIDIA's Blackwell AI accelerators coming to China will be a major deal for the country as its domestic firms such as Huawei and Tencent will face even more competition rather than be given a free hand with zero competition since they are the only high-end AI providers in the country since the restrictions on NVIDIA. The export-compliant offerings from NVIDIA will further shake things up as H20 already did, which is on track for over 1 million sales in China by the end of this year & a revenue of over $12 Billion.
The new Blackwell B20 AI accelerator will need to be tuned significantly to meet US authorities' TPP (Total Processing Performance) requirements. The B20 won't be the only export-compliant Blackwell GPU coming to market as recent rumors are suggesting that NVIDIA is also working on a new flagship gaming graphics card, the RTX 5090D, which will be designed for Chinese markets as a successor to the RTX 4090D, the first consumer-aimed & export-compliant graphics card.
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