H200 Sales to China Stalled
- U.S. officials say Nvidia has not yet sold any H200 AI chips to Chinese companies. - Commerce Secretary Lutnick attributed the lack of sales to Chinese-government approval difficulties rather than U.S. restrictions alone. - That suggests Beijing is steering purchases toward domestic suppliers, meaning export permissions alone won't guarantee market access. (reuters.com)
Nvidia still has not sold any H200 artificial intelligence chips to Chinese companies, even after Washington opened the door in January. (reuters.com) U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said April 22 that Chinese buyers have struggled to get approval from Beijing, and “as of today” the number sold is zero. Reuters reported the comment from a Senate hearing in Washington. (reuters.com) The H200 is one of Nvidia’s top data-center chips, built to train and run large artificial intelligence models. Nvidia says the chip uses 141 gigabytes of HBM3e high-bandwidth memory, a newer, faster kind of stacked memory that helps handle bigger AI workloads. (nvidia.com) The Trump administration gave formal approval on January 13, 2026 for China-bound H200 sales under a new rule, replacing an earlier presumption of denial with a managed process. Reuters said that move drew criticism from U.S. lawmakers and former officials who argued the chip could still strengthen China’s AI capabilities. (reuters.com 1) (reuters.com 2) Lutnick’s explanation shifts attention from U.S. export controls to Chinese industrial policy. His account suggests the main bottleneck now is not a U.S. license denial but Chinese-government reluctance to approve imports from Nvidia. (reuters.com) That fits Nvidia’s broader warning that access to China is no longer just a Washington problem. CNBC reported in February that Nvidia had approval for small amounts of H200 products for China-based customers but had “yet to generate any revenue,” while Chinese AI companies and local chip suppliers gained ground. (cnbc.com) China remains a meaningful market for Nvidia even after multiple rounds of export curbs. In its fiscal 2026 annual report, Nvidia said its data-center revenue in China grew, but remained “well below” levels seen before the October 2023 export controls. (sec.gov) Nvidia has already taken a direct financial hit from shifting U.S. rules on China-specific chips. In its May 28, 2025 quarterly release, the company said it booked a $4.5 billion charge tied to H20 inventory and obligations after new export licensing requirements hit that product line. (sec.gov) The result is a two-sided squeeze: Washington can permit a sale, but Beijing can still keep the order from happening. Four months after the January rule change, the H200 is still approved on paper and absent in China’s data centers. (reuters.com)
