NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090D is now facing an uncertain future as reports suggest it will be completely phased out in China by the second quarter. This exclusive model, originally tailored for the Chinese market, is caught in the crossfire of new U.S. export regulations, which have thrown its production into a halt.
About two weeks ago, NVIDIA instructed its partners to halt preparations for the RTX 5090D due to these updated export rules. The regulations are said to limit the distribution of GPUs with certain specifications, directly affecting the RTX 5090D.
The latest developments indicate that this GPU may soon disappear altogether. While the quarter is already underway, the availability of the RTX 5090D might diminish rapidly in the coming days or weeks.
With the RTX 5090D series effectively finalized, its absence means there will be no new GPU options in the second quarter for the Chinese market. This leaves gamers and tech enthusiasts with fewer choices, such as the lesser RTX 5080.
The crux of the issue lies in the U.S. export restrictions, which now prevent China from accessing high-end AI or gaming GPUs. Specifically, the rules prohibit the sale of chips capable of 1400 GB/s or greater total memory bandwidth and I/O bandwidth of at least 1100 GB/s, imposing a combined limit of 1700 GB/s. Due to these constraints, the RTX 5090D is now off-limits.
While the RTX 5090D was nearly identical to the standard RTX 5090, differences mainly lay in its AI capabilities, adjusted to meet regulatory requirements. However, the mandatory compliance with these new rules has effectively halted its sales in China.
These restrictions have also impacted NVIDIA’s H20 AI GPU, designed as an alternative to the H100 for data centers. The H20 now requires a special license for distribution in China, further underscoring the challenges faced by the company under the new export control environment.
As Chinese consumers await further developments, they face a potentially significant gap in the gaming and AI GPU market due to these international trade dynamics.
