According to Reuters, despite strong discouragement from Chinese regulators, Alibaba, ByteDance, and other Chinese tech companies remain highly interested in Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips. These firms are hoping that their ordered H20 chips will be delivered on schedule.

Chinese technology companies are also closely monitoring the development of Nvidia’s new B30A chip. Based on the Blackwell architecture, the B30A offers reduced performance compared to the original Blackwell, but is significantly more powerful than the H20. The B30A promises to be up to six times faster than the H20.

Two sources noted that if Washington approves the B30A for sale, its price could be about double that of the H20, which currently sells for between $10,000 and $12,000.

Although both the H20 and B30A are downgraded versions designed for the Chinese market, U.S. export restrictions prevent Chinese firms from accessing Nvidia’s most advanced chips. As a result, the H20 and B30A remain the best available options.

Industry sources explained that due to insufficient production capacity from domestic suppliers such as Huawei and Cambricon, demand for Nvidia chips in China remains strong. Even though downgraded, Nvidia’s chips still perform better than local alternatives.

During an earnings call, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that China’s AI chip market is worth at least $50 billion, a revenue stream Nvidia cannot afford to miss. He has been lobbying the White House to allow downgraded chips to be exported to China in order to prevent domestic developers from fully shifting to local suppliers.