NVIDIA launches a less powerful chip in China, complies with US rules

NVIDIA (NVDA) has launched a less powerful version of its latest graphics product for the Chinese market, to comply with export controls imposed by the US government.

RTX 4090 D, a modified version of the company’s newest and most powerful RTX 4090 gaming chip, has about 10% fewer processing cores, as well as fewer processing sub units, commonly used for artificial intelligence tasks.

“The GeForce RTX 4090 D has been designed to comply with US government export controls and will only be available at retail in China” – a Nvidia (NASDAQ:) spokesperson commented.

The company added that it “extensively engaged” with the US government while developing the modified chip.

Nvidia, which enjoys an over 90% market share in China’s $7B AI market, was forced to withdraw its newest offerings from the Chinese market, after the US government enacted stricter controls on export of crucial technology to the country.

The chip will be available to Chinese customers in January of 2024.

Shares of NVDA are gaining modestly in pre-market on Friday, and are up nearly 250% YTD.