US reportedly allows 10 Chinese companies to buy NVIDIA's coveted H200 AI chips
Key takeaways
- According to Reuters, however, NVIDIA has yet to make a delivery.
- China agreed to import several hundred thousand H200 chips in January, Reuters reported at the time, with the first shipments being meant for three unnamed Chinese internet companies.
- The H200 is one of the company's most powerful AI chips, second only to its high-end B200 processors.
NVIDIA The US Commerce Department has reportedly given 10 Chinese firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, Tik Tok parent company Byte Dance, retailer JD.com, Lenovo and Foxconn, the permission to purchase NVIDIA's second-best H200 processors. According to Reuters, however, NVIDIA has yet to make a delivery.
In December 2025, the US government allowed NVIDIA to sell H200 processors to approved customers in China, after blocking its sales due to concerns that it would aid the development of the country's military technologies. China agreed to import several hundred thousand H200 chips in January, Reuters reported at the time, with the first shipments being meant for three unnamed Chinese internet companies.
The H200 is one of the company's most powerful AI chips, second only to its high-end B200 processors. While the B200 is faster, the H200 is still a lot more capable than the H20, which was cleared for the Chinese market half a year earlier than the H200. The approved companies for H200 can buy up to 75,000 chips either directly from NVIDIA or from intermediaries, but the firms reportedly pulled back from making a purchase after getting guidance from the Chinese government.