Nvidia's Hopper GPUs are now dead to the Chinese market after export controls that made the company take a 'multibillion-dollar write-off'

TAIPEI, TAIWAN - 2023/06/01: Jensen Huang, President of NVIDIA holding the Grace hopper superchip CPU used for generative AI at supermicro keynote presentation during the COMPUTEX 2023. The COMPUTEX 2023 runs from 30 May to 02 June 2023 and gathers over 1,000 exhibitors from 26 different countries with 3000 booths to display their latest products and to sign orders with foreign buyers.

There was more than the usual swell of anticipation for Nvidia's latest earnings call, primarily because the last quarter has been tumultuous in the wake of US tariffs and trade restrictions. On this front, and despite the fact that the AI chip giant still seems to be doing phenomenally well, Nvidia has admitted export controls have fully killed off its Hopper generation GPUs in China.

During the company's recent Q1 earnings call, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang explained: "The H20 export ban ended our Hopper Data Center business in China. We cannot reduce Hopper further to comply. As a result, we are taking a multibillion-dollar write-off on inventory that cannot be sold or repurposed. We are exploring limited ways to compete, but Hopper is no longer an option."