Jan 13 (Reuters) - Nvidia's ( NVDA ) top customers are

delaying orders of the AI chip leader's latest 'Blackwell' racks

due to overheating issues, the Information reported on Monday.

The Santa Clara, California-based company's shares fell more

than 4% in early trading.

The U.S. government also said earlier in the day it would

further restrict AI chip and technology exports, potentially

hurting Nvidia's ( NVDA ) sales.

The first shipments of racks with Blackwell chips have been

overheating and exhibiting glitches in the way chips connect to

one another, the Information reported.

A rack, used in data centers, is a structure that houses

chips, cables and other essential equipment.

Major customers Microsoft ( MSFT ), Amazon.com's ( AMZN )

cloud unit, Alphabet's Google, and Meta Platforms ( META )

have cut some orders of Nvidia's ( NVDA ) Blackwell GB200 racks,

according to the report.

Nvidia ( NVDA ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Google, Meta and Amazon ( AMZN ) did not

immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The so-called hyperscalers had each placed Blackwell rack

orders worth $10 billion or more, the report said.

Some of the customers are waiting to snag a later version of

the racks or plan to purchase the company's older AI chips,

according to the report.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) was initially planning to install GB200 racks with

at least 50,000 Blackwell chips in one of its Phoenix

facilities, the report added.

However, key partner OpenAI asked Microsoft ( MSFT ) to provide it

with an older generation of Nvidia's ( NVDA ) 'Hopper' chips as delays

popped up, the report said.

It is unclear how the order cuts would impact Nvidia's ( NVDA ) sales

as there may be other buyers for the "glitchy" GB200 server

racks, the report said.

The company is on track to exceed an earlier target of

recording several billion dollars in revenue from Blackwell

chips in its fourth fiscal quarter, CEO Jensen Huang said in

November.

Huang had also denied earlier media reports of a flagship

liquid-cooled server containing 72 of the new chips experiencing

overheating issues during initial testing.

(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru)