BEIJING – NVIDIA is set to begin shipping its modified H20 Artificial Intelligence (AI) chip to China in July.

According to Reuters on Thursday (9/5), this move comes after the company was barred from exporting the original H20 chip to China, one of its key markets, which accounted for 13% of NVIDIA’s total sales as of the end of January.

As part of US efforts to curb China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology, the US government requires NVIDIA to obtain an export licence if it wishes to continue selling the H20 chip abroad, including to China.

In response, NVIDIA has been forced to alter the chip’s specifications, reportedly reducing its overall quality—particularly in terms of memory capacity, sources told Reuters.

Nevertheless, users can still reconfigure the chip to achieve the desired level of performance.

It is worth noting that the H20 chip is itself a modified version developed in response to the US government's formal export ban to China issued in October 2023. (ZH)