By Wen-Yee Lee
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Nvidia is evaluating how to address the China market after the U.S. government placed limits on sales of its Hopper H20 chip there but will not put out another version from the Hopper series, CEO Jensen Huang said on Saturday.
Asked what their next chip for China after the H20 was, he said: "It’s not Hopper because it’s not possible to modify Hopper anymore," Huang said, according to a livestream posted by Taiwan’s Formosa TV News network.
Huang, who has consistently said China is critical to Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA )’s growth, made a visit to China immediately after the U.S. placed new restrictions on China-bound shipments of its H20 chips, the only AI chip the company can sell legally in China.
Reuters reported earlier this month that Nvidia plans to release a downgraded version of the H20 chip for China in the next two months, as it seeks to prop up sales in the country, where it has lost market share to domestic rivals such as Huawei.
The U.S. Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion, issued in January just a week before the end of former President Joe Biden’s administration, aimed to limit AI chip exports to most countries.
Huang also said that previous AI export regulations were wrong and should have been focused on maximising U.S. technology globally.
Trump has said he will cancel the AI diffusion rules that were introduced by the Biden administration.
China generated $17 billion in revenue for Nvidia in the fiscal year ending January 26, accounting for 13% of the company’s total sales.