US approves sale of Nvidia chips to ten Chinese companies amid Trump visit

The U.S. Commerce Department has authorized about a dozen Chinese companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com, to purchase Nvidia's second most powerful AI chip, the H200, Reuters reported, citing three sources familiar with the situation. Against this backdrop, Nvidia shares rose about 2% on the premarket on May 14, with the company's market capitalization reaching $5.5 trillion.

Several distributors in China and Taiwan, including Lenovo and Foxconn, have also been authorized to purchase H200s, the agency's sources added. U.S.-approved buyers in China can purchase chips either directly from Nvidia or through these intermediaries, and each can buy up to 75,000 chips under the terms of the U.S. export license, the two sources told Reuters.

Previously, the names of the Chinese companies that the U.S. allowed to purchase H200s, as well as the nature of their relationships with Nvidia and authorized distributors for AI chip shipments, were not disclosed. A spokesman for the U.S. Commerce Department, which oversees export restrictions, including those on semiconductor shipments, declined to comment on the matter. Lenovo confirmed to Reuters that the company "is one of several firms authorized to sell the H200 to China under Nvidia's export license."

Nvidia, Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, JD.com and Foxconn did not respond to reporters' inquiries.

Shares of Nvidia at the premarket on May 14 added 2%, against this background, the market capitalization of Nvidia reached a record high of $5.5 trillion, notes MarketWatch. Since the beginning of the year, the company's securities have risen 21%. The majority of analysts covering Nvidia shares - 63 out of 69 - recommend buying them. Five hold a neutral stance, and only one advises selling.

Technology rivalry between the U.S. and China is complicating already approved deals, putting the world's largest chip maker and the world's most expensive company - Nvidia - between the conflicting interests of the two countries, Reuters notes. Thus, despite receiving a license to sell the H200 in early March from the U.S., Nvidia's deals with Chinese buyers have stalled because they themselves began to refuse to participate in them following some instructions from Beijing, one of the sources told Reuters. He said the change in stance by China (which had previously authorized several Chinese companies to buy Nvidia chips) was partly due to changes on the U.S. side, though what exactly changed remains unclear.

Beijing is reluctant to grant import licenses for H200 chips because it prefers to develop its own technology and maintain independence through domestic solutions, MarketWatch notes.

CEO Jensen Huang, who joined US President Donald Trump's delegation to China at the last minute this week, told China's CCTV on Ma 14 that he hoped: Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could lean on their good relations during talks in Beijing to improve bilateral ties.

Before the tightening of U.S. export restrictions, which began requiring Chinese buyers of U.S. products to certify "sufficient security procedures" and guarantee non-military use of the chips, Nvidia controlled about 95% of the Chinese market for advanced chips. China previously accounted for 13% of the company's revenue, and Huang last May estimated the Chinese AI market alone to be worth $50 billion this year, Reuters reports.

Huang warned in early Ma that U.S. export restrictions were undermining the company's position in that market, saying its market share in China's AI gas pedal market had effectively fallen to zero.

"Any deal that allows Nvidia to sell more chips to China means fewer Nvidia chips for U.S. companies and a reduction in the U.S. advantage over China in AI. It is astounding that President Trump continues to put Nvidia's interests ahead of America's interests," said Chris McGuire, a senior fellow on China and emerging technologies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is quoted by Reuters.

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