Exclusive: Nvidia preparing Groq chips that can be sold in Chinese market, sources say

SAN JOSE, California, (Reuters) – Nvidia is preparing a version of its Groq ​artificial-intelligence chips that can be sold to the Chinese market, two sources ‌familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Nvidia licensed technology from Groq, an AI chip startup, late last year in a $17 billion deal and showed a new lineup of products based around ​its chips at its annual developer conference in San Jose, California, this week.

The ​move to develop a version of the chips for the Chinese market ⁠comes as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that the company has restarted production ​of its H200 chips, the predecessor to its current flagship chip, after obtaining export licenses ​from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and purchase orders from Chinese customers.

Nvidia plans to tap Groq’s chips for what is known as inference, where AI systems answer questions, write code or carry out ​tasks for users. In the products Nvidia showed this week, the company plans to ​use its forthcoming Vera Rubin chips, which cannot be sold in China, in combination with the Groq ‌chips.

While ⁠Nvidia dominates the market for training AI systems, it faces much more competition in the inference market. Several major Chinese firms, including AI heavyweights such as Baidu  already produce their own inference chips.

Huang underscored the change in his speech at the developer conference on ​Monday. “The inference inflection has ​arrived,” he said. “And demand ⁠just keeps on going up,” he added, saying the revenue opportunity for Nvidia AI chips may reach at least $1 trillion through ​2027.

The chips being readied for China are not downgraded versions or ​made specifically ⁠for the Chinese market, one of the sources told Reuters. But the new variant can be adapted to work with other systems, the source said, adding that the Groq chip ⁠is ​expected to be available in May.