NVIDIA is preparing to launch the GeForce RTX 5090DD, a specialized graphics card engineered explicitly for the Chinese market, in response to ongoing US export controls. The company had previously announced the cessation of GeForce RTX 5090D shipments to China, following US government regulations implemented under the Trump administration aimed at restricting advanced chip sales. Facing the potential loss of the key Chinese market, NVIDIA´s new 5090DD model is positioned as a compliant alternative that limits performance to stay within regulatory guidelines.
The GeForce RTX 5090DD will feature the GB202-240 die, presenting itself as a reduced capability version when compared to the original RTX 5090D. Initial reports suggested the card would be outfitted with 14,080 CUDA cores, but subsequent information from the well-known NVIDIA leaker kopite7kimi indicates a substantial 21,760 CUDA cores and a hefty 575 W TDP. Notably, the 5090DD will be paired with 24 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 384-bit memory bus, trimmed from the 512-bit bus of its predecessor. This hardware scaling targets compliance by both reducing raw compute power and limiting firmware capabilities, thereby curtailing potential use in Artificial Intelligence training and high-performance computing outside of gaming.
This move reflects NVIDIA´s adaptation to stricter export controls that seek to prevent high-end graphics hardware from bolstering China’s military and Artificial Intelligence development. By explicitly differentiating the performance of this new variant, NVIDIA aims to serve Chinese gamers while deterring the product’s reappropriation for non-gaming or computational purposes. While the 5090DD is tailored for gaming, the changes under the hood are substantial, ensuring that NVIDIA sustains a foothold in the world´s largest gaming market without contravening US export laws. Market reaction will hinge on how well gamers and businesses respond to the limitations imposed by the revised hardware and firmware of the RTX 5090DD.
