The LPU was designed as a decode co-processor for the Vera Rubin platform, and Vera Rubin can't be sold in China. The Information's sources said Nvidia rewrote the software that splits work between the GPU and the LPU so the accelerator can run alongside processors that are available in the country.
The publication said Nvidia didn't respond to requests for comment over several days before publishing, and that it's unclear whether Beijing would allow the orders to proceed. Chinese officials blocked purchases of the H20 last year and only recently told companies they'd permit some H200 imports , so U.S. compliance alone doesn't guarantee the chips can be delivered.
Back in March, it was reported that Nvidia was preparing LPUs for China, with Jensen Huang saying two days later that the story was "totally false.” Thursday's statement is narrower than Huang's, addressing current sales and a China-specific product. Nvidia hasn’t clarified whether the standard LPU will ship to Chinese buyers. Huang told CNBC in May that Nvidia had "largely conceded" China's AI chip market to Huawei.
The Groq 3 LPU is built on Samsung's 4nm process with 512MB of SRAM per die and no HBM, and Nvidia said at GTC that it would ship in Q3 2026 to customers including OpenAI. U.S. export thresholds for China are set on compute density and bandwidth, and an SRAM-only decode accelerator with no HBM stack is the kind of part that can still be exported under them without a cut-down SKU, which is the mechanism The Information's sources described.
Nvidia's Huang vows to deliver 'giant amounts' of Vera Rubin — company says that 'our roadmap is intact'
First Nvidia H200 shipments reach China, ByteDance and Tencent take deliveries as Beijing loosens its import block
Nvidia preps to sell its Vera CPUs into China as its GPU sales stay frozen
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/nvidia-denies-report-it-will-ship-groq-based-lpus-to-china-by-year-end#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.