The Nvidia B30A, which the company is developing as its next-generation replacement for the China-market H20 AI chip, is expected to cost double the price of the earlier model. Reuters reports that the H20 currently sells between $10,000 and $12,000, meaning the B30A will likely be priced from $20,000 to $25,000. Despite this massive increase, many Chinese companies, like TikTok owner ByteDance, are keen on getting their hands on Nvidia’s latest chips, with some sources saying that these chips are considered great deals.
It’s estimated that the B30A will be six times more powerful than the H20, despite being a watered-down version of the full-fat B300 AI chip. Nvidia has reportedly already developed the B30A, but it’s still waiting for approval from the U.S. government to proceed with the marketing and sale of the Blackwell-based GPU. In the meantime, many Chinese tech firms are still buying H20 chips despite Beijing’s guidance to stop buying them.
Because of this, there’s currently a massive license backlog at the U.S. Department of Commerce —the worst it has experienced in 30 years — turning the H20 taps into a trickle. The White House is also still ironing out the 15% deal that AMD and Nvidia signed, so that the companies can market their products to China. We’ve also seen reports that Nvidia is asking its suppliers to wind down H20-related production, with the company only telling Tom’s Hardware, “We constantly manage our supply chain to address market conditions.”
So, with all these delays, red tape, and rumors, many of Nvidia’s Chinese customers are getting apprehensive and want assurance that their H20 orders are delivered. This shows that there is still massive demand for these powerful chips, thus turning it into a massive geopolitical tool to be wielded on the negotiating table by both the East and the West.
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