Nvidia denies report it is rolling out China AI chip by year-end

Nvidia firmly rejected a report from The Information stating that it intends to launch a China-specific AI chip by the end of the year. In a statement, an Nvidia spokesperson clarified that the company currently has no LPU sales in the Chinese market and does not plan to introduce a country-specific LPU product in its roadmap. This denial comes amidst Nvidia's ongoing efforts to expand its presence in the fast-growing AI inference market.

Earlier this week, Reuters had reported that Nvidia was preparing a China-adapted version of AI chips as part of its competitive strategy. The Information, citing two Nvidia employees, had claimed that the company had planned to begin small-scale shipments of an AI chip designed for Chinese customers by year-end. According to the report, the chip was a customized version of Nvidia's LPU, a processor built using technology licensed from Groq.

This processor works in tandem with graphics processing units (GPUs) to accelerate AI chatbot responses. The publication noted that the chip adhered to US export-control regulations and that Nvidia had adapted software to enable the LPU to operate with processors available in China due to the unavailability of Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin AI system in the market because of US restrictions.