Nvidia is currently exploring the possibility of returning to the Chinese market after the US authorities banned it from selling H20 computing accelerators in the country based on the Hopper microarchitecture, which were developed specifically for China. The new AI accelerators for China will be based on a different architecture, the company’s CEO Jensen Huang said, Reuters reports, citing Taiwanese news agency Formosa TV.
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When asked what Nvidia’s new accelerator for China would be after H20, Mr. Huang replied: “It’s not Hopper, because it’s no longer possible to modify Hopper.” The company’s CEO has always noted that China is important to the company, and after Washington imposed more sanctions, he immediately visited the country. In the next two months, Nvidia intends to release a new accelerator adapted for China that will comply with US restrictions. This is necessary to support sales in the country, where Nvidia’s share has already begun to decline due to local competitors, primarily Huawei.
Mr. Huang described the US export restrictions on artificial intelligence technologies previously introduced as wrong — in his opinion, Washington, on the contrary, should increase the presence of American technologies around the world to the maximum. The new US President Donald Trump promised to cancel the AI regulations introduced by his predecessor, but H20 was banned from being supplied to China under Trump. According to the results of the fiscal year that ended on January 26, China brought Nvidia $17 billion in revenue, which is 13% of the company’s total sales.