Investigating the RTX Pro 6000D, an exclusive GPU by Nvidia for China, currently prohibited for commercial use - its diluted characteristics fall short against unauthorized market alternatives
In the dynamic world of AI technology, China is navigating a complex landscape marked by U.S. export restrictions and a push for domestic self-reliance.
The latest development comes with the introduction of the RTX 6000D, a product built specifically for the Chinese market. Designed with Blackwell architecture and conventional GDDR memory, the RTX 6000D delivers around 1,398 GB/s of bandwidth, a significant boost for AI inference tasks. However, without NVLink, it may rely on PCIe or external NICs like ConnectX to communicate between GPUs.
The RTX 6000D retails in China for around $7,000 (¥50,000), a price that pales in comparison to the grey-market RTX 5090s, designed for gamers but with Nvidia's full Blackwell silicon. These can be found for as low as $3,500 (¥25,000).
Meanwhile, the B30A, a more powerful Blackwell part designed for training, was hoped to win approval for sale but now seems less likely due to the new Nvidia ban. If approved, the B30A would have been equipped with 144 GB of HBM3E and NVLink support, delivering up to six times the performance of Nvidia's sanctioned H20 for double the price.
China's major clouds are effectively locked into CUDA due to the transition from Nvidia being rocky. This has led to some Chinese AI labs, such as DeepSeek, scrapping plans to train their next model on Ascend NPUs, citing unstable performance and poor chip-to-chip communication.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) is pushing for domestic AI hardware adoption, mandating that state-backed clouds procure at least 50% of their AI accelerators from Chinese vendors. This push is driven by political and strategic pressure to break free from Nvidia's ecosystem, due to concerns about being terminally behind Western counterparts if export control rules continue.
In a move towards open-source alternatives, Huawei's CANN, a CUDA alternative, has recently gone fully open source. This could potentially offer a viable path for Chinese AI labs seeking to reduce their reliance on Nvidia technology.
However, the road to self-reliance is not without challenges. The RTX 6000D's constrained design, featuring a GDDR-based Blackwell GPU with no NVLink, underscores the need for innovative solutions to overcome the bandwidth limitations imposed by conventional memory architectures.
As the landscape evolves, one thing is clear: China's AI sector is at a critical juncture, with the stakes high for both technological progress and strategic independence.
Read also:
- Tesla Model Y owner, after traveling 300,000 miles, discloses the impact on the vehicle's battery life
- "Currently accepting applications: Bonn-branded, free smart thermostat"
- Examined the alignment of the aid with the domestic market by the Commission.
- Achieved Remarkable Fuel Efficiency of 158 MPGe in a 2025 Lucid Air Pure on the New Jersey Turnpike, Demonstrating it as the Most Efficient Production Vehicle Despite Lacking the Luxury Features of the GT Model
