Nvidia’s China-exclusive RTX 6000D, launched to comply with U.S. export restrictions and fill the gap left by the banned H20, has failed to generate significant market interest in China, according to Reuters. Despite being tailored for the Chinese AI and high-performance computing market, the card’s performance has been widely criticized as underwhelming—reduced from its global counterpart due to deliberate limitations on memory bandwidth, compute power, and AI acceleration capabilities. These restrictions, imposed to align with U.S. trade policies targeting advanced semiconductor exports, have rendered the RTX 6000D less competitive against both international alternatives and domestic Chinese GPU offerings like those from Huawei and Alibaba’s T-Head. The lack of demand has raised serious concerns about Nvidia’s inventory strategy. Analysts at JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley estimate that Nvidia could produce between 1.5 and 2 million units of the RTX 6000D by year-end, far exceeding current market demand. This surplus could result in a substantial financial burden, with unsold inventory potentially leading to write-downs or forced price cuts. The situation is exacerbated by the volatile regulatory environment, as the Trump administration has repeatedly toggled tariffs and export controls on high-end GPUs in 2025, creating uncertainty for both manufacturers and buyers. Nvidia’s response has been to develop a series of China-specific variants—such as the RTX 5090D and H20—each designed to skirt U.S. restrictions while still serving the AI and data center sectors in China. However, these models have consistently underperformed compared to their global counterparts, undermining their appeal. Meanwhile, Chinese tech firms and cloud providers are increasingly turning to homegrown alternatives, accelerating the domestic semiconductor push. Companies like Biren, Horizon Robotics, and Cambricon are gaining traction with AI-optimized chips that, while not yet matching Nvidia’s full-stack ecosystem, offer better value and compliance with local regulations. Industry insiders suggest that Nvidia’s China strategy may be misaligned with market realities. “The RTX 6000D is a textbook case of regulatory overreach leading to product irrelevance,” said one analyst at a major investment bank. “By crippling performance to meet export rules, Nvidia created a product that neither satisfies Chinese customers nor competes globally.” The company’s deep reliance on the Chinese market—accounting for nearly 30% of its total revenue—means that failure to adapt could have long-term consequences, including erosion of brand loyalty and accelerated adoption of domestic alternatives. Nvidia remains a dominant force in AI hardware, but its ability to navigate geopolitical constraints without sacrificing performance is now under scrutiny. The RTX 6000D’s lukewarm reception underscores a growing challenge: balancing compliance with competitiveness in an increasingly fragmented global tech landscape. If Nvidia cannot find a viable path forward, the company risks being sidelined in one of the world’s most critical AI markets.