By Liam Mo and Brenda Goh
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) –Nvidia‘s (NVDA) RTX6000D, its newest artificial intelligence chip tailored for the Chinese market, has seen only lukewarm demand with some major tech firms opting not to place orders, two people with knowledge of procurement discussions said.
The RTX6000D, designed mainly for AI inference tasks, is seen as expensive for what it does, the two people said.
They added that testing of samples showed its performance lags the RTX5090 – a chip banned by the U.S. for use in China but which is still readily available through grey market channels at less than half the RTX6000D’s price of around 50,000 yuan ($7,000).
Chinese tech giants, including Alibaba (BABA), Tencent (0700.HK, TCEHY) and ByteDance, are also waiting for clarity on whether orders for Nvidia’s H20 chip will be processed, separate sources said earlier this month. The U.S. firm regained permission to sell the H20 in July but shipments have yet to restart.
Additionally, the firms are hoping that Nvidia’s B30A – a much more powerful chip than the H20 – will be approved by Washington.
The three chips are downgraded versions of models sold outside China, developed to comply with export restrictions put in place by the United States, which wants to rein in Chinese tech progress and retain its lead in AI development.
Tepid demand for the RTX6000D contrasts with optimistic projections from sell-side analysts. JPMorgan said in a report last month that it expected some 1.5 million RTX6000Ds to be produced in the second half of this year. Morgan Stanley (MS) predicted in July that Nvidia would have 2 million RTX6000Ds in its pipeline.
Nvidia began shipping the RTX6000D this week, according to one of the people. The sources were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.
An Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement that the “market is competitive – we offer the best products we can.”
Alibaba did not address a Reuters query seeking comment. Tencent and ByteDance did not respond to requests for comment.
The extent to which China has access to cutting-edge AI chips is one of the biggest flashpoints in U.S.-Sino trade tensions.
On one hand, the U.S. has retreated from its previous position of more severe export restrictions. But Beijing has become increasingly keen for Chinese firms to switch to domestic chips even if Nvidia’s products are preferred by many companies.
On Monday, Beijing accused Nvidia of violating China’s anti-monopoly law, casting more uncertainty on its business in the world’s second-biggest economy.
