Nvidia’s New China Pickle: Customers Don’t Want Its Downgraded Chips

SINGAPORE—After U.S. regulations barred Nvidia from selling its high-performance artificial-intelligence chips to China in October, the company’s engineers quickly designed a new lineup to comply with the tightened rules.

The U.S. tech company may have found some wiggle room, but it faces a bigger problem: Chinese cloud companies—some of Nvidia’s biggest customers globally—aren’t so keen on buying its lower-powered AI chips. 

SINGAPORE—After U.S. regulations barred Nvidia from selling its high-performance artificial-intelligence chips to China in October, the company’s engineers quickly designed a new lineup to comply with the tightened rules.

The U.S. tech company may have found some wiggle room, but it faces a bigger problem: Chinese cloud companies—some of Nvidia’s biggest customers globally—aren’t so keen on buying its lower-powered AI chips.