[News] Nvidia’s Custom H20 Chip for China Reportedly Halted

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Nvidia has stopped taking orders for its H20 chips since August, according to Chinese media outlet CLS, citing distributors. While there has been no official notice, sources suggest distributors are “waiting on the latest updates”. One industry insider said Nvidia began accepting H20 chip orders in February, shipping them in April, with bulk shipments following in May. However, several distributors recently reported that they are no longer accepting H20 orders, though some still have stock available.

The report also quoted a distributor saying, “Large firms have mostly stockpiled, while smaller ones might still have some demand.” Orders are still being taken, but interest in the H20 chip is low due to its underwhelming performance and relatively high price, with some even describing it as a “chicken rib”—something of little value. Nvidia declined to comment on these claims.

According to Commercial Times, the U.S. had imposed export restrictions on chips to China, prompting Nvidia to develop three custom chips for the Chinese market based on its H100 series, with the H20 being the most powerful. The H20, built on the Hopper architecture, features 96GB of HBM3 and offers 4.0TB/s memory bandwidth. However, it has 41% fewer GPU cores and 28% lower performance than the H100.

Earlier, Sina Finance reported that Chinese firms, including ByteDance, have been stockpiling Nvidia chips, with ByteDance reportedly holding over 100,000 units. H20 orders for 2024 are expected to reach between 320,000 and 330,000 units, with 140,000 to 150,000 already delivered. Additionally, ByteDance plans to purchase more than 30,000 H100 chips from overseas, with potential follow-up orders for B200 and H200 chips.

(Photo credit: Nvidia)