Nvidia dips after report of Chinese “ban” on H200 imports
As the Commerce Department delivers the equivalent of a ribbon-cutting ceremony for H200 sales to China, officials in the world’s second-largest economy are throwing up more red tape.
Reuters reports that China is not allowing Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to enter the country, citing three people briefed on the subject, one of whom said “it is basically a ban for now,” though this could change. The outlet adds that it “was not immediately able to ascertain whether the directives applied to existing orders for H200 chips or only to new orders.”
Shares of the chip designer are down less than 1% as of 5:50 a.m. ET.
China has been wary of allowing foreign chips to dominate its AI market, preferring measures to bolster its domestic semiconductor production capabilities. And for a while, the US was much more reticent to provide any access. Export restrictions put in place in mid-April during the height of US-China trade tensions prevented Nvidia from sending the H20, a chip that had been tailor-made to comply with export controls, to China. Though that export ban was lifted months later, demand from China “never materialized,” Nvidia CFO Colette Kress said in the wake of the company’s Q3 earnings report. Reports suggested that China banned its leading technology giants from purchasing these semiconductors, instead pushing them toward domestic alternatives. However, the H200 is considerably more powerful than the H20, which suggests the calculus for Chinese policymakers could have changed significantly in light of these different circumstances.
Nvidia is hoping to start to get these chips in the hands of Chinese buyers by the start of the Lunar New Year holiday (February 17) amid a very robust order book that could represent a $54 billion sales opportunity for the chip designer. On Tuesday, the Commerce Department tweaked its export license review policy, paving the way for chips like the H200 — the most powerful processor from Nvidia’s Hopper generation, which preceded Blackwell — to be sent to China.
Reuters’ piece also offers some corroboration on reporting from The Information on Tuesday, which said Chinese regulators told their tech companies they’d only be able to buy these chips “under special circumstances.”
Bloomberg had previously reported that China was planning to approve imports for commercial use “as soon as this quarter.”
