Nvidia is developing a powerful new AI chip for China called the B30A, aiming to outperform its existing H20 model despite tight US restrictions.
TLDR:
- Nvidia is working on a new AI chip, the B30A, for China using its advanced Blackwell architecture
- The chip aims to surpass the performance of the H20, but remains under intense US regulatory scrutiny
- US-China trade tensions continue to impact access to AI technology, with recent deals including a 15% revenue cut to the US government
- Nvidia hopes to deliver B30A testing samples to Chinese clients as early as next month
What Happened?
Nvidia is reportedly developing a new artificial intelligence chip for the Chinese market that will be more powerful than the current H20 model. Known as the B30A, the chip is based on the company’s latest Blackwell architecture and is designed to maintain Nvidia’s market presence in China without breaching US export controls. Nvidia has confirmed it is evaluating various products for future competitiveness, pending government approval.
Nvidia’s B30A Chip: A Strategic Step Forward
The upcoming B30A chip is expected to be a major upgrade over the H20, which was specially designed for China after the US imposed export restrictions in 2023. The H20 only recently resumed shipments in July following a sales halt earlier this year.
Key specifications of the B30A include:
- A single-die design, expected to deliver half the raw computing power of Nvidia’s high-end dual-die B300 accelerator
- High-bandwidth memory and NVLink interconnect technology for rapid data processing
- Compliance with US regulations by staying under performance thresholds, such as using conventional GDDR memory and maintaining memory bandwidth at 1,398 GB per second, just below the 1.4 TB limit
The speculated B30A would be a really good chip. “50% off” is false reassurance.
— Lennart Heim (@ohlennart) August 19, 2025
-½ B300 performance, ½ price = same value (just buy 2x)
-Well above (12x!) export control thresholds
-Outperforms all Chinese chips
-Delivers 12.6x the training perf of the H20
-Better than H100
1/ pic.twitter.com/6i605iZEFV
Sources say Nvidia aims to begin shipping test samples to Chinese clients by next month, though final specifications are still being finalized.
Government Pressure and Corporate Maneuvering
The backdrop to Nvidia’s B30A development is the intense trade and tech rivalry between the US and China. In April, the Biden administration froze advanced chip exports to China over national security concerns. This followed a series of restrictions that already shaped Nvidia’s earlier chip releases, including the H20.
More recently, President Donald Trump indicated he might allow Nvidia to sell scaled-down versions of its next-gen chips in China. As part of a broader deal, Nvidia and rival AMD agreed to give 15% of their China chip sales revenue to the US government.
Trump claimed Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang successfully negotiated that figure down from an initial 20%. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also acknowledged that Huang regularly pitches chip strategies to the president, underlining Nvidia’s active lobbying for regulatory flexibility.
Competitive Landscape: Huawei Rising
While Nvidia pushes to stay relevant in China, domestic competition is rising fast. Chinese tech giant Huawei is making strides in chip development, reportedly matching Nvidia in raw computing power in some areas. However, Huawei still lags in software ecosystem compatibility and memory performance, where Nvidia maintains an edge.
To counter this, Nvidia is also rolling out another Blackwell-based chip, the RTX6000D, tailored for AI inference tasks in China. It’s a lower-cost alternative to the H20, expected to enter limited distribution next month.
Stock Market Reaction
Despite its bold new product plans, Nvidia’s stock is feeling the pressure. As of today’s pre-market session, Nvidia shares are trading at $175.64, down 3.50%, reflecting investor caution amid ongoing regulatory uncertainty.
What TechKV Thinks?
Honestly, I think Nvidia is playing a risky but necessary game here. They can’t afford to lose the Chinese market, which still made up 13% of their revenue last year. This new chip is their attempt to walk a tightrope: offer just enough power to stay competitive in China, but not so much that it angers US regulators.
The B30A looks like a clever middle-ground product. It shows Nvidia’s deep understanding of both chip engineering and geopolitics. If they can pull this off without triggering another export ban, it’ll be a masterstroke. But with Huawei gaining momentum and Washington watching every move, it’s going to be a tough road.
