Nvidia H200 stalls in China
- U.S. officials say Nvidia's H200 AI chips have not been sold to Chinese firms 'as of today'. - Commerce officials reported Beijing has not approved those purchases, prioritizing domestic semiconductor development instead. - That dynamic shows market access now depends on both U.S. export permissions and China's industrial-policy controls ( ).
Nvidia’s H200 artificial-intelligence chip still has not reached Chinese customers, even after Washington cleared sales months ago. (usnews.com) U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told senators on April 22 that Chinese companies had bought “zero” H200 chips “as of today.” He said the holdup was on the Chinese side, where buyers have not received government approval. (scmp.com) Reuters reported the Trump administration gave a formal green light in January 2026 for China-bound H200 sales. Lutnick said that permission has not translated into shipments because Chinese firms still need Beijing’s signoff. (usnews.com) The episode shows how Nvidia’s China business now runs through two gates, not one: U.S. export controls and China’s industrial policy. Beijing is steering demand toward domestic chip makers even when a U.S. license path exists. (scmp.com) That is a sharp change from 2024 and early 2025, when Nvidia was still selling China-specific processors designed to comply with U.S. rules. On April 9, 2025, Nvidia disclosed that Washington had started requiring a license for exports of its H20 chip to China, Hong Kong and Macau. (sec.gov) Nvidia later said the H20 had been designed primarily for the China market, and that the April 2025 license requirement triggered a $4.5 billion charge tied to excess inventory and purchase obligations. The company also said it recorded $4.6 billion in H20 sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 before the new restriction took effect. (nvidianews.nvidia.com) The H200 sits above those China-tailored products. It is one of Nvidia’s higher-end chips for training and running artificial-intelligence models in data centers, the server farms that supply computing power for chatbots and other AI systems. (usnews.com) Lutnick made the case in Senate testimony while defending the administration’s chip policy against concerns that advanced U.S. semiconductors could aid China’s military. He said the United States was not sending China its “best chips,” even as Chinese demand remained strong. (msn.com) For Nvidia, the result is a China market that remains open on paper but blocked in practice. Until both governments align, the H200 stays approved, unsold and stuck at the border of policy. (scmp.com)
