China demanded tech companies halt orders for Nvidia chips - media outlet

Beijing this week asked a number of Chinese technology companies to suspend orders for Nvidia H200 chips, The Information reported, citing sources familiar with the situation, Reuters reports. The Chinese authorities may oblige local businesses to buy chips for AI inside the country, the agency points out.

The requirement to halt orders for Nvidia chips, SeekingAlpha specifies, will remain in effect until the Chinese government decides whether the chips will be allowed for sale in the country. The Chinese government doesn't want Chinese tech companies to rush to stockpile chips before the authorities determine their position, one of The Information's sources noted.

Nvidia did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters and SeekingAlpha. Earlier this week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he did not believe the Chinese government would make a formal announcement about allowing Chinese companies to import Nvidia H200 chips into China. Instead, the proof will come in the form of purchase orders, he pointed out. "I expect we won't make any press releases or big announcements [about this]," Huang said. - There will only be purchase orders. If the orders come in, it will mean that they [Chinese companies] have the ability to place them."

Nvidia's stock saw a slight decline during trading on Jan. 7, but then turned to growth and added 1.6%.

Late last year, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration approved the export of Nvidia's H200 chips to China, marking a marked reversal in White House strategy from previous restrictions on shipments of advanced artificial intelligence equipment to China. Nvidia's approval to export the chips was granted on the condition that the company would remit to the U.S. government a special fee of 25 percent of the revenue generated from these shipments.

Last December, Nvidia informed Chinese customers that it intended to start shipping its second most powerful processors to China before the Lunar New Year (falling this year on February 17), three sources told Reuters. In the first phase, Nvidia planned to utilize existing stock on hand. Total shipments, the agency's sources said, were expected to be between 5,000 and 10,000 modules, equivalent to about 40,000-80,000 H200 chips. Nvidia has also notified Chinese partners of plans to ramp up production capacity for these chips, one of the agency's sources said. Acceptance of orders for new volumes, according to him, was to start in the second quarter of 2026. At the same time, the Chinese authorities had not approved any purchases of H200 at that time.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor