Nvidia Plans New, More Powerful China-Specific AI Chip Codenamed B30A

The world’s most valuable chipmaker is far from giving up its desire to retain China as a key growth market. Nvidia is reportedly putting together a new artificial intelligence (AI) chip designed specifically for China that would be half as powerful as its flagship B300 Blackwell GPU, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources.

The chip, codenamed B30A, would still deliver more processing power than the H20 GPUs currently permitted for sale in China. Unlike the dual-die design used in the more powerful B300 GPUs, the B30A would have a single-die architecture, though it would keep many of the advanced features of the H20, such as fast data transmission, support for NVLink, and high-bandwidth memory.

The B30A’s development is understood to be separate from another chip that Nvidia is also said to be creating for the Chinese market, according to Reuters.

In a statement, Nvidia noted: “We evaluate a variety of products for our roadmap, so that we can be prepared to compete to the extent that governments allow. Everything we offer is with the full approval of the applicable authorities and designed solely for beneficial commercial use.”

The effort comes at a delicate time. The Trump administration in recent weeks has shown signs of relaxing its restrictions on exports of advanced AI chips to China. However, approvals for the B30A are far from certain, sources told Reuters.

The move underlines Nvidia’s struggle to maintain its presence in China amid intensifying geopolitical rivalry between Washington and Beijing, where advanced AI technology has become a central flashpoint. U.S. policymakers argue that restricting chip exports is critical to safeguard America’s lead in AI and prevent Chinese military applications, while critics warn that too much control could inadvertently push Chinese firms like Huawei to accelerate their own semiconductor breakthroughs, eroding U.S. dominance in the long run.

For Nvidia, the stakes are enormous. China has traditionally accounted for as much as one-fifth of the company’s global sales, making it too big a market to abandon. Industry analysts often liken the company’s position to selling shovels in a gold rush: whichever side dominates AI, chipmakers stand to profit — but being cut out of China risks leaving billions in potential revenue to competitors.

The company has already faced repeated challenges over Washington’s escalating chip restrictions, including last year when it was barred from exporting its most advanced A100 and H100 GPUs to China. Nvidia responded by designing watered-down alternatives like the H20 to stay compliant. The B30A now appears to be the latest attempt to walk that fine line — retaining a foothold in China without violating U.S. export rules.

However, the move is expected to face challenge from Beijing, which has criticized Nvidia’s H20, alleging potential security vulnerabilities and dismissing them as neither technologically advanced nor environmentally friendly.

On July 31, China’s Cyberspace Administration summoned Nvidia executives for a closed-door meeting, demanding an explanation over concerns that the H20 chips could contain hidden hardware mechanisms enabling remote shutdown or unauthorized access—so-called “backdoors” that bypass normal security protocols. Such vulnerabilities, if proven, could theoretically allow foreign actors to disrupt AI systems or siphon sensitive data without detection.

Nvidia has repeatedly denied the allegations, stating both in July and again early August that its products contain no such backdoors. The company maintains that the H20 chips were engineered to comply with U.S. export controls while meeting Chinese market needs, and that all of its hardware undergoes rigorous security testing.

However, Beijing has been persistently wary, creating the belief that the scrutiny will be extended to every chip designed for China by Nvidia.