Nvidia’s China Nightmare Isn’t Over Yet — Trump’s Team Reportedly Plans Fresh AI Chip Export Curbs

• Nvidia’s latest China workaround AI chip, the B30A, can reportedly be used to train large language models arranged in large clusters.
• The company clarified that it has no presence in China's highly competitive data center compute market and that it does not include it in its guidance.
• Despite the recent volatility, Nvidia stock has gained over 36% this year.

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) stock trended on Stocktwits late Thursday after an Information report said the U.S. seeks to block the Jensen Huang-led company’s latest scaled-down artificial intelligence (AI) chips from entering China.

In overnight trading, Nvidia stock was down nearly 1%, according to Yahoo Finance. The chipmaker’s stock has been on a three-session losing streak amid broader market weakness and concerns about a potential bursting of the AI bubble. Since Monday, Nvidia’s stock has shed over 9%.

Trump Walks The Talk?

The White House has ordered federal agencies to disallow Nvidia’s latest workaround chip, dubbed B30A, to China, the Information report said, citing three people familiar with the matter, according to Reuters. The B30A can reportedly be used to train large-language models across large clusters, a key requirement for many Chinese companies developing AI processes and applications.

Following the setback, Nvidia is working on modifying the chip's design to appease U.S. authorities and obtain their approval.

The rumored development comes close on the heels of President Donald Trump clarifying in a media interview on Sunday that Nvidia’s high-performance chips will not be shared with any other country, to keep the U.S. in the lead in the AI race.

Nvidia’s China Travails

After Nvidia’s high-performance computing (HPC) AI accelerators were forbidden from shipping to China by the previous Biden administration, the company developed a trimmed-down version to comply with the regulation. The H20 China-specific AI chip that Nvidia developed to sidestep the ban drew scrutiny from the White House under Trump, and its exports were banned in April of this year.

Huang’s lobbying to resume sales yielded results when the government signaled its intention to comply. That said, neither Nvidia nor its peer AMD, which was also impacted by the ban, has included contribution from the chip in their revenue outlook issued since then. Huang was in the news this week when he issued a warning about the AI threat posed by China, but later came on to soften his comments, stating that the U.S. was still “nanoseconds” ahead in the AI race.

What Retail Feels About Nvidia Stock

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward Nvidia stock remained ‘bullish’ as of late Thursday, although the mood tempered from the ‘extremely bullish’ outlook seen a week ago. The message volume on the stream remained ‘high.’

On Nvidia's stock stream, retail watchers mulled the implications of a B30A ban.

A few others shrugged off the report. “Why does this matter? China is not included in 500B in BOOKED ORDERS  for the next 5 QTRS,” they said. “Why peddle something NOT material in this guidance??”

The view aligned with the company’s comments. Clarifying to Reuters, a Nvidia spokesperson reportedly said the company has "zero share in China's highly competitive market for datacenter compute, and do[es] not include it in our guidance."

Despite the recent volatility, Nvidia stock has gained over 36% this year. Nvidia, which earned the distinction of being the first company with a market capitalization of more than $5 trillion, has seen its valuation drop below that level since then.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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