NVIDIA's next-gen B100 'Blackwell' AI GPUs hit supply chain certification stage

NVIDIA's next-gen B100 "Blackwell" GPU has entered the supply chain certification stage, one of the important steps of its journey into becoming the truly next-gen AI GPU that will succeed the H100 "Hopper" AI GPU.

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We've had news from Chinese and Taiwanese outlets reporting that NVIDIA's new B100 Blackwell AI GPU entering the Supply Chain Certification stage, according to sources of both UDN and CTEE. According to the new reports, NVIDIA is selecting its supply chain partners, with the primary partner being Wistron for production, who will provide NVIIDA with supply substrates required for the next-gen B100 Blackwell AI GPU.

The reports suggested that NVIDIA was looking at Wistron and Foxconn, but Wistron was able to secure the early-stage orders through reservations with yields and other factors that were able to impress NVIDIA enough to put pen to paper. We are to expect NVIDIA's next-gen B100 Blackwell AI GPUs in Q2 2024, where they'll use SK hynix's new HBM3e memory that will push the memory bandwidth numbers through a wall, pushing new limits for AI GPUs in 2024 and beyond.

• Read more: NVIDIA's next-gen GB200 'Blackwell' GPU listed on its 2024 data center roadmap

CTEE reports: "NVIDIA's GB200 (B100) AI server is scheduled to be launched in 2024. The supply chain has entered the certification stage. There are rumors in the market that Hon Hai originally planned to win the B100 substrate order, but recently the certification has been "blocked". Wistron maintains the Original order share".

"It is rumored that Huida originally planned to include Hon Hai as the second AI-GPU server substrate supplier for the next-generation B100 series. However, due to yield rate and other considerations, Wistron will still obtain 100% of the order share, and Wistron is also taking advantage of the opportunity. The early stage orders for AI-GPU modules are reportedly successful".

UDN reports: "All orders for NVIDIA's highest-end H100 AI server modules in North America were handed over to Hon Hai, which will be produced in factories in Mexico, the United States, and Hsinchu, Taiwan, the NVIDIA B100 module order that the industry is most concerned about will also be contracted by Hon Hai in the future".