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As Nvidia prepares for possible challenges to its chip business in China, the chipmaker is reportedly turning to Samsung for a key part of its specially-designed processor.
Nvidia has approved Samsung’s fourth-generation high bandwidth memory chips, called HBM3, for use in its artificial intelligence chips, called H20, which are developed to comply with U.S. export controls, Reuters reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The H20 graphics processing unit, or GPU, is one of three chips Nvidia designed to not require an export control license. Meanwhile, a shortage of memory chips has slowed Nvidia’s production of AI chips amid rising demand for its processors, so turning to Samsung could help with its supply.
It marks the first time Samsung’s HBM3 chips will be used in Nvidia’s chips, but it is not clear if Nvidia will want to use it in other AI chips, the people told Reuters. Nvidia has reportedly told its suppliers it will use the HBM3 chips as well as Samsung’s fifth-generation memory chips, called HBM3E, in its AI chips, according to The Information, which cited unnamed people familiar with the matter. Samsung, which is facing a workers’ strike in South Korea, has not met Nvidia’s standards with its HBM3E chips, and is continuing to test the chips, people told Reuters. Nvidia declined to comment, and Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nvidia is expected to sell more than one million of its H20 chips in China this year, worth around $12 billion, despite U.S. trade restrictions, the Financial Times reported, citing SemiAnalysis data. However, analysts at Jeffries said when the U.S. does its annual review of U.S. semiconductor export controls in October, “it is highly likely that” Nvidia’s H20 chip will be banned for sale to China.
Meanwhile, as the U.S. considers tougher trade restrictions to prevent advanced chip equipment from reaching China, Nvidia is reportedly working on a version of its latest AI chips to comply with those rules. The chipmaker will work with a local distribution partner, Inspur, to launch and sell a new version of its Blackwell chips, tentatively called “B20,” in China, Reuters reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.