Nvidia has rebranded its flagship Blackwell Ultra products, in what appears to be a strategic shift at the chipmaker aimed at promoting its B300 and GB300 lines, both of which use CoWoS-L technology.
The move, first reported by TrendForcethe B200 Ultra series will now be known as the B300, while the GB200 Ultra will be known as the GB300.
Nvidia’s B300 series is expected to hit the market sometime between the second and third quarters of 2025, with the B200 and GB200 series in particular set to hit the market in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Nvidia’s shift has broader long-term implications
TrendForce noted that Nvidia is refining chip segmentation in its Blackwell series in an effort to meet the growing performance demands of CSPs, improve supply chain flexibility and meet the cost-performance needs of server -OEMs.
The B300A series, for example, is mainly aimed at OEMs. Production of this series is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2025 as deliveries of the H200 series begin to wind down.
Remarkably, TrendForce said Nvidia originally planned to launch the B200A series to specifically cater to server OEMs. The chipmaker switched to the B300A series later in the design process, but the market research firm said this indicated “weaker demand for downgraded GPUs than expected.”
This shift in Nvidia’s product strategy could have long-term consequences TrendForce suggesting that the move “demonstrates a clear turn towards AI models that promise greater revenues by 2025”.
“The company is investing significantly in improving NVL rack solutions and helping server system providers with performance optimization and liquid cooling for NVL72 systems,” according to a TrendForce analysis.
“Companies such as AWS and Meta are being urged to switch from NVL36 to NVL72.”
In particular, shipping trends indicate that Nvidia’s high-end GPU offerings will increase in the coming year, with total shipment share expected to be around 50% by 2024.
This represents, according to TrendForce, a significant increase of 20% compared to the previous year – and this increase is expected to continue. The Blackwell platform is expected to increase this further to a share of approximately 65% by 2025.
Nvidia is driving CoWoS demand
According to TrendForce, Nvidia is expected to play a “critical role” in driving demand for CoWoS technology in the coming year.
As the Blackwell series begins to gain traction among businesses, demand for CoWoS is expected to increase by approximately 10% year-on-year.
“In light of the recent changes, NVIDIA will likely focus on delivering B300 and GB300 products to major North American CSPs – both utilizing CoWoS-L technology,” TrendForce said.
In parallel, HBM purchasing is also expected to increase, TrendForce notes. According to current projections for the coming year, the chip manufacturer will account for more than 70% of the global HBM market.
This again means an increase of approximately 10% on an annual basis. An important factor here is that all models in the B300 series will have HBM3e 12hi.
With production expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, this will boost demand, TrendForce said. Suppliers could wait, though.
This marks the first mass production of a 12hi stack product by Nvidia, analysts noted. Therefore, the company could need at least two quarters to “refine processes and stabilize production yields.”
