NVIDIA's new AI chip hits China, but sales may lag
NVIDIA has started selling its latest AI chip, the RTX6000D, in China for about 50,000 yuan ($7,000).
Built on Blackwell architecture with a bandwidth of 1,398GB/s—just under US export limits—the RTX6000D is meant to fill the gap left by the H20 chip, which was previously banned and, despite the ban being lifted, still hasn't shipped due to unresolved issues.
RTX6000D meets export rules but isn't as fast as H200
The RTX6000D is basically a toned-down version of NVIDIA's top GPUs, designed specifically to meet export rules.
The H20 (with 4TB/s bandwidth), another chip developed for China, remains stuck in regulatory limbo.
Meanwhile, NVIDIA is hoping for approval on its B30A chip—which could be up to six times faster than H20 but would also cost twice as much.
Chinese firms aren't excited about the RTX6000D
Even though analysts expect big sales this year, most major Chinese companies aren't jumping at the RTX6000D.
The main reasons? It's pricey and doesn't perform as well as gray-market RTX5090 chips that sell for less than half the price.
Plus, NVIDIA faces extra pressure from Chinese regulators and Beijing is nudging firms toward homegrown AI chips instead.