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Nvidia ( NVDA ) expects U.S. licences for H20 sales soon

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Huang to brief media in Beijing during supply chain expo

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Company also announces new AI chip specifically for China

(Adds background in paragraphs 3-5)

By Liam Mo and Anne Marie Roantree

BEIJING/HONG KONG, July 14 (Reuters) - Nvidia ( NVDA )

said on Monday it will resume sales of its H20 artificial

intelligence chip to China and has introduced a new model

tailored to meet regulatory requirements in the Chinese market.

Nvidia ( NVDA ), the world's most valuable company, is filing

applications with the U.S. government to resume sales to China

of the H20 graphics processing unit (GPU), and expects to get

the licences soon, the company said in a statement. Deliveries

are expected to begin shortly thereafter, it added.

"The U.S. government has assured NVIDIA ( NVDA ) that licenses will be

granted, and NVIDIA ( NVDA ) hopes to start deliveries soon," Nvidia ( NVDA ) said

in a statement. The White House did not immediately respond to a

request for comment.

CEO Jensen Huang is scheduled to hold a media briefing in

Beijing on Wednesday when he attends a supply chain expo, his

second visit to China after a trip in April where he stressed

the importance of the Chinese market.

The move to resume sales of the H20 chips comes amid easing

tensions between Washington and Beijing, with China relaxing

controls on rare earth exports and the United States allowing

chip design software services to resume in China.

The H20 chip was developed specifically for the Chinese market

after U.S. export restrictions were imposed on national security

grounds in late 2023. The AI chip was Nvidia's ( NVDA ) most powerful

legally available product in China until it was effectively

banned by Washington in April.

The H20 ban forced Nvidia ( NVDA ) to write off $5.5 billion in

inventories, and Huang told the Stratechery podcast earlier this

year that the company also had to walk away from $15 billion in

sales.

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) AI chips have been a key focus of U.S. export controls

designed to keep the most advanced chips out of Chinese hands,

amid intense competition between the superpowers to dominate the

AI race.

The company also announced the development of a new AI chip

designed specifically for China, called the RTX Pro GPU. Nvidia ( NVDA )

described the model as "fully compliant" with U.S. export

controls and suitable for digital twin AI applications in

sectors such as smart factories and logistics.

In May, Reuters reported Nvidia ( NVDA ) was preparing to launch a new AI

chip, based on the RTX Pro 6000D, in China at a significantly

lower price point than the H20.

The graphics processing unit would be part of Nvidia's ( NVDA )

latest generation Blackwell-architecture AI processors and was

expected to be priced well below the the H20 due to its weaker

specifications and simpler manufacturing requirements, sources

said.

Huang has met with U.S. President Donald Trump and policymakers

in Washington and later with officials in Beijing, as part of

efforts to promote AI cooperation and highlight Nvidia's ( NVDA ) support

for open-source research and global AI development, the company

said.