China Will Allow Its AI Companies to Buy Nvidia Chips — The Information

China plans to allow the country’s leading AI companies to purchase a limited number of Nvidia H200 chips, according to The Information. This could signal an easing of restrictions on access to U.S. technology, the insider publication notes. Nvidia’s stock jumped 3.7%.

The shortage of AI chips has prompted Chinese authorities to allow limited purchases of H200 chips, sources told The Information. Beijing has notified companies such as Alibaba Group, ByteDance, and DeepSeek that they will be able to purchase some of the graphics processing units they need for developing AI models, the publication reported.

To obtain authorization, these companies must specify how many chips they need and for what purposes. According to The Information, Chinese authorities are still determining how many H200 chips local companies will be allowed to purchase, but the total number is likely to be less than 200,000 chips.

Representatives from Nvidia and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. did not respond to requests for comment from Bloomberg.

Nvidia shares jumped 3.7% during Wednesday's trading session, while the broader market showed weakness following a new round of tensions in the Middle East.

In May, during a conference call following the release of the quarterly earnings report, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress stated that sales of the H200 in China had not yet generated any revenue for the company. “We’re not sure if imports of these chips will even be allowed into the country,” she said. For this reason, Nvidia did not include shipments to the Chinese market in its forecast for the current quarter. The start of such shipments could impact the company’s revenue and lead to a revision of its expectations.

Bloomberg notes that the H200 chips have become one of the key points of tension in the technological standoff between the world’s two largest economies. Although U.S. President Donald Trump authorized Nvidia to sell these processors to China back in December, Chinese authorities have so far been slow to allow products from the leading American chipmaker into the domestic market, thereby boosting local manufacturers. Beijing fears that a massive influx of U.S.-developed AI processors will hinder China’s long-standing strategy to build its own semiconductor industry. In addition, Chinese authorities have stated that American chips could pose a cybersecurity threat.

The H200 is part of the Hopper line of processors designed for training and running AI models. Until the release of the next-generation Blackwell processors in late 2024, the H200 was considered the most powerful AI chip on the market. Nvidia is currently working on the release of the even more powerful Rubin lineup, which is expected to launch in the second half of this year. Meanwhile, Washington continues to restrict shipments of more powerful processors to China, citing national security concerns.

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