(Credit: Shutterstock / Below the Sky)
Nvidia has reportedly discovered “design flaws” in its upcoming line of Blackwell AI chips that might push their release back by at least three months. While the chips were originally anticipated to arrive in the next few months, they’re now expected to ship in early 2025.
According to The Information, the company has started notifying customers, which include Google, Meta, and Microsoft, of the delay.
The chips were announced in March and offer a performance boost of up to 30x over what can be achieved by the company’s H100 chip, which is used by a number of AI systems today. The company has also said that the chips could reduce cost and energy consumption by up to 25x.
News of the delay comes just days after we learned that Nvidia is facing two investigations from the US Department of Justice over its AI practices. Specifically, the investigations are looking into whether the company violated any US antitrust laws with its $700 million April acquisition of Israeli AI startup Run:AI and if the company unfairly pressured cloud computing firms to purchase its chips.
Nvidia is also reportedly building a version of the upcoming chip specifically for the Chinese market. The chip is currently being called B20, and is being designed so the brand can take advantage of China’s computing market while still adhering to US export rules.