Nvidia’s China customers to get hobbled version of gaming chip

Nvidia Corp, the world’s most valuable chip maker, is selling a less-capable version of its best graphics product for video gamers in China, after the US government tightened restrictions on what the company can sell in the semiconductor industry's largest market.

The version of the GTX 4090 D chip that is listed for sale on Nvidia’s China website has about 10 per cent fewer processing cores than the 4090 that is sold in other countries.

“The GeForce RTX 4090 D has been designed to comply with US government export controls and will only be available at retail in China,” an Nvidia spokesman said in an email.

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has said the company would produce versions of its market-leading products for China that comply with rules imposed by the Biden administration on exports to that country. The US, seeking to slow down the advancement of China’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, is limiting access to specialised chips in that market.

The company said it “extensively engaged” with the US government, while developing the graphics product, which will be available in January.

Compared with the 4090 sold elsewhere, the China model will also have fewer processing sub units that are useful for accelerating AI workloads, according to Nvidia.

US officials, who have cited national security concerns, are more interested in Nvidia’s AI accelerators, a range that is currently topped by the H100. That type of chip, which is based on technology used in graphics cards, has become the basis of an explosion in AI-capable hardware by owners of large data centres.