US clears H200 sales to 10 firms

The U.S. Commerce Department has approved Nvidia export licences allowing about 10 Chinese companies to buy H200 artificial-intelligence chips, according to Reuters and other outlets reporting on May 14. The approved buyers include Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com, and a handful of distributors including Lenovo and Foxconn were also cleared to participate, the reports said. (usnews.com) Each approved buyer can purchase up to 75,000 H200 chips under the licences, but no deliveries have occurred so far. (vinnews.com) The approvals show how Washington’s January policy change is now being applied to named Chinese customers. The Bureau of Industry and Security said on January 13 that it would review licence applications for Nvidia H200 chips and similar products on a case-by-case basis rather than under a presumption of denial, provided exporters meet specified security and supply conditions. (thenextweb.com) The Federal Register notice said the rule covers commercially available advanced chips including Nvidia’s H200 and requires certifications on U.S. supply, foundry capacity and recipient security procedures. ### Which Chinese companies were cleared to buy the chips? Reuters and CNBC reported that the approved customers include Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com. (usnews.com) Lenovo confirmed to Reuters that it was one of several companies approved to sell H200 chips in China as part of Nvidia’s export licence, while the Commerce Department declined comment, CNBC reported. A handful of intermediaries were also approved, including Foxconn and Lenovo, according to Reuters-based reports. That structure matters because the licences allow sales either directly by Nvidia or through intermediaries, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. (bis.gov) ### Why is the H200 the chip at the center of this fight? Nvidia’s H200 is one of the company’s most powerful AI processors cleared for sale into China under the revised U.S. policy. Nvidia’s product material says the H200 has 141 gigabytes of HBM3e memory and 4.8 terabytes per second of memory bandwidth, specifications aimed at large language models and high-performance computing workloads. (usnews.com) The January U.S. rule specifically named the H200 and comparable chips from rivals such as AMD’s MI325X as products eligible for case-by-case review. BIS said the shift followed President Donald Trump’s December 8, 2025 announcement that the United States would allow H200-class products to be shipped to approved customers in China under tighter safeguards. (usnews.com) ### If licences are approved, why have no chips shipped? Reuters reported that no H200 shipments have taken place despite the approvals. The same reporting said Beijing guidance and a broader shift by Chinese buyers toward domestic alternatives have effectively stalled deliveries, leaving Nvidia with paper approvals but no completed sales. (resources.nvidia.com) The timing also leaves Nvidia trying to reopen a market that had already been constrained by U.S. controls and changing Chinese procurement patterns. Reuters-based reports said Jensen Huang was in Beijing seeking a breakthrough with customers after the approvals were granted. (bis.gov) ### How does smuggling fit into the picture? The U.S. Justice Department said in December that a China-linked network had exported and attempted to export at least $160 million of controlled Nvidia H100 and H200 chips between October 2024 and May 2025. Prosecutors said the defendants used false paperwork and other methods to evade export controls. That enforcement record has complicated the policy debate around legal sales. (usnews.com) Fortune reported on May 13 that illicit channels have continued moving advanced chips despite export controls, underscoring the gap between formal licensing policy and what law-enforcement agencies say has happened in practice. (thenextweb.com) ### What comes next for Nvidia and the approved buyers? May 14 is the key date for now because the approvals are in place but shipments have not started. Reuters reported that Huang was in Beijing pressing for progress, and Lenovo has already publicly acknowledged it is among the approved sellers. The next concrete test is whether any of the approved customers — including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com — convert those licences into actual H200 orders and deliveries under the U.S. conditions published in January. (justice.gov) (usnews.com) (thenextweb.com) (dnyuz.com)