Nvidia has rebranded its flagship Blackwell Ultra products, in what appears to be a strategic shift at the chipmaker aimed at promoting the B300 and GB300 lines, both of which leverage CoWoS-L technology.
The move, first reported by TrendForce, will see the B200 Ultra series now be known as the B300, while the GB200 Ultra is known as the GB300.
The B300 series from Nvidia is expected to launch any time between the second and third quarters of 2025, with the B200 and GB200 series in particular set to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Nvidia’s shift has broader long-term implications
TrendForce noted Nvidia is in the process of refining chip segmentation across its Blackwell series in a bid to meet growing performance demands from CSPs, improve supply chain flexibility, and meet cost-performance needs among server OEMs.
The B300A series, for example, is aimed primarily at OEMS. Production of this series is expected to begin during the second quarter of 2025 as shipments of the H200 series begin winding down.
Notably, TrendForce said Nvidia had originally planned to launch the B200A series to specifically cater to server OEMs. The chipmaker later shifted to the B300A series during the design process, however, which the market research firm suggested indicated a “weaker demand for downgraded GPUs than anticipated”.
This shift in product strategy from Nvidia could have long-term implications, with TrendForce suggesting the move “reveals a clear pivot toward AI models that promise greater revenue in 2025”.
“The company is making significant investments in improving NVL rack solutions, assisting server system providers with performance optimization and liquid cooling for NVL72 systems,” analysis from TrendForce noted.
“Companies like AWS and Meta are being urged to transition from NVL36 to NVL72.”
Notably, shipment trends point toward Nvidia’s high-end GPU offerings surging in the year ahead, with overall shipment share anticipated to hit around 50% in 2024.
This, TrendForce said, marks a sizable 20% increase compared to the year prior - and it’s expected to continue. The Blackwell platform is projected to drive this further to a share of around 65% in 2025.
Nvidia driving CoWoS demand
In the year ahead, Nvidia is expected to play a “crucial role” in driving demand for CoWoS technology, according to TrendForce.
With the Blackwell series beginning to gain widespread enterprise appeal, CoWoS demand is forecast to increase by around 10% year-on-year.
“In light of recent changes, NVIDIA is likely to concentrate on supplying B300 and GB300 products to major North American CSPs—both leveraging CoWoS-L technology,” TrendForce said.
Running parallel to this, HBM procurement is also anticipated to rise, TrendForce found. Current projections for the year ahead suggest the chip maker will account for more than 70% of the global HBM market.
This once again marks an increase of around 10% annually. A key factor here is that all models across the B300 series will feature HBM3e 12hi.
With production expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, this will drive demand, TrendForce said. Suppliers could be left waiting, however.
This marks the first mass production of a 12hi stack product by Nvidia, analysts noted, therefore the company could take at least two quarters to “refine processes and stabilize production yields”.
