Nvidia halts H20 work for China amid security reviews

Nvidia has instructed several component suppliers to suspend work on its H20 artificial intelligence chip for the Chinese market as Beijing presses domestic firms to avoid purchases amid security concerns, company executives and industry contacts said. The move, announced days before the chipmaker is due to report quarterly results, adds uncertainty to an otherwise strong sales outlook and highlights the geopolitical frictions shaping the global AI chip market.

The H20 is a modified accelerator designed to comply with U.S. export restrictions while serving Chinese data center customers. Nvidia notified packaging partner Amkor Technology and memory supplier Samsung Electronics to pause production related to the H20, and also asked Foxconn to stop certain backend work. Nvidia said it regularly manages its supply chain to reflect market conditions and reiterated that its chips do not contain remote access backdoors.

Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang, speaking while visiting Taiwan to meet executives at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, said the company has been engaging with Chinese authorities to address their security questions. "H20 has no security backdoors. There...