US trade sanctions have stopped Nvidia from exporting its high-end GPUs like the A100 and H100 to China.
As a workaround, Nvidia developed the A800 and H800 GPUs specifically for Chinese customers, but these were also blocked by updated US controls last October, leading to the creation of the H20.
This GPU is specifically tailored for the Chinese market and is aimed at AI training. According to sources, the price tag is between $12,000 and $15,000. South China Morning Mail citing anonymous industry sources.
Falling short
Nvidia’s latest budget AI GPU has now reportedly landed in China, but it faces stiff competition from its own previous models and Huawei’s secret weapon, the Ascend 910B. The H20’s computing capabilities are said to be comparable to Huawei’s GPU, a chip developed by the Chinese tech giant that is currently under US trade sanctions. The Ascend 910B, while not officially confirmed by Huawei, is available through various sales channels in China.
However, the performance of Nvidia’s H20 seems to lag behind that of its predecessors. According to some sources, the H20’s capabilities lag significantly behind those of the A800 and A100, although full internal testing has not yet been completed.
In terms of price, a high-end server with eight Nvidia H20 cards costs around $195,800. For comparison, a Huawei server with 910B chips will sell for around $200,000 as of January this year.
Although a few Chinese customers have reportedly received H20 samples for testing, and pre-orders have now opened, Nvidia’s GPU is expected to reach China in the second quarter, while shipments of products featuring the H20 are expected to will start in July.
Nvidia’s GPUs are in high demand worldwide, with Chinese tech giants spending billions to purchase the GPUs to power new AI technologies. The company’s data center segment surpassed video games to become the largest contributor to revenue in fiscal 2023, with record revenue of $14.51 billion.
However, it remains to be seen how the H20 will be received by Chinese customers given the limited options due to the new US regulations.