Nvidia unveils budget Blackwell AI chip for China
Nvidia is set to unveil a low-cost variant of its high-performance Blackwell AI chip, which has been optimized for the Chinese market, due to U.S. export controls. The chip, which has been said to be called the “B20,” will provide lowered capabilities than the top-of-the-range B200 in order to remain compliant with American trade rules.
The B20 will utilize GDDR7 memory and will not incorporate advanced packaging technology such as TSMC’s CoWoS, maintaining lower production costs. The chip will cost between $6,500 and $8,000, less than the price of the H20 model that sells for up to $12,000. Nvidia will start shipping the B20 in the second quarter of 2025 under an agreement with Chinese technology giant Inspur.
This action follows Nvidia’s Chinese dominance having decreased sharply from 95% market share to about 50% following U.S. restrictions. Chinese players such as Huawei have capitalized on the void, with its Ascend 910B chip gaining traction. Nvidia’s operations have also been impacted economically, with a $5.5 billion write-down of inventory and an estimated $15 billion worth of potential lost business.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been particularly critical of the export restrictions, describing them as a “failure” that has inadvertently made Chinese chipmakers more competitive. The rollout of the B20 is being viewed as a tactical move to maintain Nvidia’s presence in China without breaching U.S. policies, providing a compliant but capable AI solution to one of the world’s largest tech markets.
