According to Reuters, this chip line is significantly cheaper than the previous H20 model. According to close sources, the product is expected to be mass-produced by June at the earliest.
This new chip belongs to the Blackwell architecture processor generation, using a server-based GPU based on the RTX Pro 6,000D.
The chip is equipped with a regular GDDR7 memory instead of advanced high-end storage, and does not use TSMC's advanced chip-on-Wafer-on- Sub Substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology.
It is the simplicity in the configuration and production process that helps the expected selling price range from only 6,500 to 8,000 USD, much lower than the 10,000 - 12,000 USD of the H20 line.
Nvidia is still considering limited product options in the context of being eliminated from China's $50 billion data center market. A company spokesperson said: Until we agreed to design a new product and receive approval from the US government, we were almost banned from this market.
China remains Nvidia's major market, accounting for 13% of its most recent fiscal year revenue. However, since the US imposed export control measures in 2022, Nvidia's market share in China has fallen sharply, from 95% to about 50%. Nvidia's main competitor here is Huawei, with the Ascend 910B chip line being chosen by many Chinese customers.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company initially considered developing a shortened version of H20 for China, after the product line was banned in April. However, that plan did not come true because the Hopper architecture - the foundation of H20 - was no longer able to meet the changes under current US regulations.
The H20 ban has forced Nvidia to record a value of $5.5 billion in canceled inventory. The company also had to give up $15 billion in potential sales. Mr. Huang warned that if the restrictions continue, many Chinese customers will switch to using Huawei chips.
New regulations from the US side limit the GPU memory bandwidth - a key parameter for AI tasks that require processing large data. Jefferies investment bank estimates the current bandwidth ceiling at 1.7 - 1.8 terabyte/second, compared to 4 terabyte/second that H20 has achieved.
According to the forecast from securities company GF Securities, the new Blackwell chip line using GDDR7 memory can reach a bandwidth of about 1.7 terabyte/second - close to the limit allowed by regulations.
In addition to the chip version that is about to launch in June, Nvidia is also developing another variation of the Blackwell architecture for China, expected to start production in September. However, the detailed technical specifications of this chip model have not been confirmed.
Although there is no official name, GF Securities predicts that the new GPU will be named the 6,000D or B40. Reuters sources, meanwhile, declined to identify them because they were not allowed to make the information public.
