Beijing, Sept 5 (V7N) – Alibaba, ByteDance, and other major Chinese tech companies continue pursuing Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips despite strong discouragement from Chinese regulators, according to sources involved in procurement discussions.
 
These firms are seeking confirmation that their orders for Nvidia’s H20 model—granted renewed export permission by the U.S. in July—are being processed. They are also closely monitoring developments surrounding the more powerful B30A chip, which is currently based on Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture.
 
If approved for sale by U.S. authorities, the B30A is expected to retail at approximately twice the price of the H20, which sells in the range of $10,000 to $12,000. Despite the higher cost, Chinese tech firms view it as valuable, considering its estimated sixfold performance boost over the H20.
 
Both chips are designed as downgraded versions of Nvidia’s high-end offerings, adapted specifically to comply with U.S. export restrictions.
 
China’s continued reliance on these chips underscores ongoing tensions in the U.S.–China tech competition. Despite Beijing’s efforts to promote domestic alternatives, such as Huawei and Cambricon, Nvidia chips remain preferred in many sectors due to inferior performance from local offerings.
 
U.S. policymakers have adopted a somewhat flexible stance—President Trump recently brokered a deal where the U.S. government would receive 15% of Nvidia’s H20 revenue—ostensibly to maintain influence over global AI development and software ecosystems.
 
Nvidia, which earned about 13% of its revenue from China in the past fiscal year, faces significant uncertainty in the region. In response, the company issued a muted sales forecast excluding China and has taken steps to reassure customers, including confirming availability of the H20 and preparing B30A samples for testing later in the year.
 
END/WD/SMA/