Nvidia Denies Report of China-Specific AI Chip Launch by End of 2026

Nvidia has denied reports that it will launch a China-specific AI chip by the end of 2026. A company spokesperson said reports about Nvidia's language processing unit are untrue, adding that no such product is currently sold in the China market and that the product roadmap contains no such offering for that market.

Earlier reports claimed that a language processing unit customized for Chinese customers was planned to begin shipping by the end of 2026. Citing Nvidia employees, those reports said the company intended to start small-batch shipments of the customized AI chip for Chinese clients by end-2026, with several customers already having placed orders. The chip is a version of Nvidia's language processing unit, which is licensed to use technology developed by US AI chip and cloud services startup Groq, and can operate alongside graphics processing units to speed up responses from AI chatbots. The reports said the chip complies with US export controls on advanced chips, and that Nvidia had also adapted software to allow the language processing unit to be used with GPUs in the China market.

Nvidia's H200 chip was previously reported to have received approval for small-batch entry into the China market. US officials confirmed that, after obtaining approval from the US government, a small number of H200 chips have been delivered to Chinese customers.