Nvidia Offers New Artificial Intelligence Chip Samples For China Market

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. (photo: x @nvidia)

JAKARTA - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said his company is currently offering customers samples for two new artificial intelligence chips aimed at the Chinese market. This is done, in an effort to maintain market dominance in the country, which is now threatened by US export restrictions.

"We are giving samples to customers right now. Both chips comply without a license. We look forward to customer feedback on this," Huang was quoted as saying by VOI from Reuters on Wednesday, February 22.

"Our endeavor is that we... will compete for the business, and hopefully we can serve the market successfully," Huang said.

Huang did not name the chip or customer, and Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Chip industry media, SemiAnalysis, reported in November 2023 that Nvidia is preparing to release three chips - H20, L20, and L2 - for the Chinese market. The chips cover most of Nvidia's latest features for artificial intelligence work, but some of its computing power is reduced to comply with US new rules.

Reuters also reported earlier this month that Nvidia had begun receiving pre-message orders for the H20 chip, the most powerful of the three chips aimed at the Chinese market, and their distributors-distributors set a price comparable to Huawei's competing products.

H20 was supposed to be released in November 2023 but was delayed due to problems facing server manufacturers in integrating the chip.

Nvidia's business in China has experienced a decline after Washington expanded export control measures in October 2023 which included more constraints on the delivery of advanced Nvidia chips to China.

"In the last quarter, our business has declined significantly as we... stopped shipping in the (China) market," Huang said.

For the fourth fiscal quarter ending on January 28, Nvidia recorded sales of US$1.9 billion (Rp29.7 trillion) in the Chinese market, including Hong Kong, according to a Reuters tally based on the company's results.

That amount is about 9% of total sales, down from 22% in the previous quarter when they reported sales of USD 4 billion (IDR 62.5 trillion) in the region.

"We expect this quarter to be around the same. But after that, hopefully we can compete for our business and do our best, and we'll see how it goes," Huang said.