NVIDIA is preparing a budget Blackwell chip for China - without HBM and CoWoS, but 2 times cheaper than H20
Company NVIDIA is preparing to launch a new AI chip based on the Blackwell architecture, aimed specifically at the Chinese market. According to Reuters, The new accelerator will cost half as much as H20, but will not receive support HBM memories and CoWoS packaging, which will greatly affect performance.
The chip is being developed under strict US export restrictions, which have forced NVIDIA forced to lower specifications of its products for ChinaThe new model will use GDDR7 memory instead of HBM, to meet the bandwidth limitation requirements. It will also lack support for TSMC's CoWoS, further reducing the performance level relative to Western solutions.
Production of the new chip will start in June, with shipments to customers in China starting in July 2025. NVIDIA's main goal is to bring back market share that Huawei is actively winning over with its Ascend 910C chip. However, according to industry analysts, Huawei's chip will be more powerful, but NVIDIA hopes make up the difference with the CUDA software ecosystem, which remains the company's key advantage.
NVIDIA's China Sales Plunge After US Sanctions, especially for the H100 and A100 models. The company's CEO Jensen Huang previously stated that China's market is valued at $50 billion, but due to restrictions, their share has decreased to 50%. The new Blackwell chip is an attempt to get back into the game, albeit in the budget segment.
NVIDIA plans to sell more than a million of these chips by the end of 2025., betting on the mass market and rapid adaptation to local requirements. Despite the simplified characteristics, the chip could prove to be an attractive solution for AI startups and cloud providers in China.
