Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) latest AI chip for the Chinese market, the RTX6000D, has seen only limited uptake since its release, with some major tech companies holding off on purchases, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with procurement talks.
The RTX6000D, designed mainly for AI inference applications, carries a price tag of roughly 50,000 yuan ($7,000). Industry insiders reportedly consider it expensive relative to its performance, according to Reuters.
Testing has shown that the chip lags behind the RTX5090, a more powerful model restricted from sale in China due to U.S. export rules. However, the RTX5090 is still accessible on the grey market for less than half the RTX6000D’s price, the report noted.
Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance have reportedly refrained from placing orders, Reuters said in an earlier report this month.
These companies are waiting to see if Nvidia’s H20 chip—a downgraded Hopper-based model—will ship following U.S. approval granted in July, though deliveries have not yet resumed.
Additionally, firms are looking to Nvidia’s upcoming B30A, a Blackwell-based chip expected to offer up to six times the H20’s performance at roughly twice the cost, though U.S. approval for this model remains uncertain.
The lukewarm market reception for the RTX6000D stands in contrast to optimistic sell-side forecasts. Last month, JPMorgan estimated around 1.5 million units would be produced in H2 2025, while Morgan Stanley projected Nvidia could have up to 2 million units in its pipeline. Nvidia only began shipping the RTX6000D this week, according to Reuters.
“The market is competitive – we offer the best products we can,” an Nvidia spokesperson told Reuters.
The launch occurs amid heightened scrutiny for Nvidia in China. On Monday, Beijing accused the company of violating anti-monopoly laws, adding to uncertainty as U.S. and Chinese delegations met in Madrid for trade talks.
Chinese regulators have also summoned domestic firms, including Tencent and ByteDance, to review their H20 purchases and raise concerns over information security, Reuters reported. Nvidia has dismissed these concerns, asserting that its products contain no backdoor risks.
The RTX6000D is built on Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture, equipped with conventional GDDR memory and a bandwidth of 1,398 gigabytes per second—just below the 1.4 terabyte-per-second limit set by U.S. regulations.
It was partially designed to replace the H20, which was initially banned in April before Washington reversed course. By comparison, the H20 is priced between $10,000 and $12,000 and delivers 4 terabytes per second of bandwidth.
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