Nvidia in talks with Trump admin to design new chip for China: CEO Huang

This comes after Nvidia announced that it is pausing H20 chips to China after the Chinese regulators raised security concerns, prompting suspension of production and deliveries

Nvidia's chief executive officer (CEO) Jensen Huang on Friday said that his company is in talks with the US President Donald Trump's administration for a possible new computer chip designed for the Chinese market, Associated Press reported.

 

When asked about a potential B30A semiconductor for artificial intelligence (AI) data centres in China during Huang’s Taiwan visit, he said, "I'm offering a new product to China for ... AI data centres, the follow-on to H20".

 

Adding, "That's not our decision to make. It's up to, of course, the United States government. And we're in dialogue with them, but it's too soon to know."

 

He further said that such chips are graphics processing units (GPUs), a type of device that is used to build and update a range of AI systems. However, these chips are less powerful than Nvidia's top semiconductor, which the company cannot sell to China due to national security restrictions placed by the US. 

 

According to the report, B30A is based on California-based Nvidia's specialised Blackwell technology, and is reported to operate at about half the speed of Nvidia's main B300 chips.

 

Nvidia halts H20 chip production after China cites security risk

 

Huang’s remarks come as Nvidia paused H20 chips to China after the Beijing regulators raised security concerns, prompting suspension of production and deliveries, The Information reported earlier today.

 

The setback came after Beijing issued an advisory to leading technology firms, including Tencent, ByteDance, and Alibaba, to suspend the H20 orders, after the regulators cited risks of "information leaks".

 

Trump administration allows export of H20 chips to China

 

Earlier in July, Nvidia announced that the company had been given a green light to export its H20 chips to China. In a statement, the company said that the US government has assured Nvidia of granting licences to resume the sale of its H20 chips to Beijing. 

 

The sale of H20 chips was paused in April as the Trump administration was tightening its control over the trade of advanced artificial intelligence technology with Beijing, as part of its strategy to pressure China amid the tariff dispute.