Nvidia is reportedly tweaking the design of its artificial intelligence (AI) chips for the Chinese market, in light of US export rules.

The Information reported that Nvidia has told some of its biggest Chinese customers that it is tweaking the design of its AI chips so they can be sold to Chinese businesses without clashing with US export rules.

It comes after the founder and boss of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, made a surprise visit to China last month, just days after the Trump Administration had issued fresh export restrictions for the only AI chip the American chip maker was still allowed to sell to China.

China exports

Despite the latest US export restriction, Jensen Huang was quoted as saying on Thursday that China was a very important market for Nvidia, and the firm hopes to continue to co-operate with China.

Now according to the Information, Nvidia has told some of its biggest Chinese customers that it is tweaking the design of its AI chips so they can be sold to Chinese businesses without clashing with US export rules.

The chip giant reportedly spoke with customers, including Alibaba Group, TikTok-parent ByteDance and Tencent Holdings, the report said, citing three people involved in the conversations.

Jensen Huang had reportedly alerted customers about his plans while on his trip to Beijing, despite his visit surprising many amid the trade war furore ignited by Trump’s so called Liberation Day” tariffs.

Nvidia has told customers that a sample of the new chip will be available as soon as June, The Information reported.

The company also said it was still working on a China-specific version of its latest-generation AI chip, Blackwell, according to the report.

Export restrictions

The US under the previous Biden Administration had already targeted China with two rounds of export controls in October 2022 and October 2023 that specifically limited the parameters of AI chips that US firms such as Nvidia could sell to Chinese buyers, forcing Nvidia to develop slower AI chips for the Chinese market.

Then Nvidia confirmed that its H20 AI chip, which was designed specifically for the Chinese market to comply with previous US export controls, will now require a special licence to sell in China for the “indefinite future”.

Nvidia warned that it would take $5.5 billion in charges after the US government limited exports of its H20 artificial intelligence chip to China.

Chinese alternatives

Nvidia’s promise of tweaking some of its AI chips make sense, as the chip giant seeks to retain potential buyers, amid reports of AI chip alternatives from Chinese firms.

Since 2023 there have been reports that Huawei, Tencent and other Chinese start-ups were increasingly seeking Nvidia alternatives.

Last week it was reported that Huawei is set to begin testing its next-generation Ascend 910D chip, which it sees as a challenger to Nvidia’s H100.

Earlier in April reports said Huawei was set to begin mass production of the Ascend 910C for domestic Chinese customers as early as May, as it taps into demand released by new US restrictions on Nvidia and AMD chips.

“Tall tales”

Last week Nvidia had blasted Anthropic over its stance on US export controls on advanced AI chips to China.

Anthropic had argued in a blog post that strong export controls on AI chips are crucial to maintaining the US advantage in the global AI race and safeguarding national security, and claimed that Chinese smugglers have come up with creative methods to circumvent export controls including hiding chips in “prosthetic baby bumps” and packing them “alongside live lobsters.”

Nvidia dismissed some of Anthropic’s anecdotes as “tall tales.

“American firms should focus on innovation and rise to the challenge, rather than tell tall tales that large, heavy, and sensitive electronics are somehow smuggled in ‘baby bumps’ or ‘alongside live lobsters,’ ” a spokesperson for Nvidia reportedly said.