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Nvidia has approval from the U.S. government to sell its more advanced H200 AI chips to China. But the question is whether Beijing wants it or will let companies buy it. The company can now ship its H200 chip to "approved customers", provided the U.S. government gets a 25% cut of those sales. It had been effectively banned from selling any semiconductors to China earlier this year, but since July sought to resume H20 sales, a less advanced chip designed specifically to comply with export restrictions. Reports had suggested Beijing prohibited local companies from buying the H20. Nvidia is not baking in huge China sales into its forecasts as a result. After the ban was lifted, the Financial Times reported China would "limit access" to the H200, citing unidentified sources.
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Look at what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said this year, and what Chinese tech giants and Beijing have done, and you'll see potential hints as to how this lifting of the ban will play out.
Why China might push back against the H200
The H200 is one of Nvidia's most advanced chips for training and running AI on the market, but China has been on a drive to wean itself off American technology and boost local semiconductor development for AI. "While this move reopens the door for U.S. revenue, the strategic train has already left the station," Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC on Tuesday. Huang said in a Bloomberg interview in May that Chinese tech giant Huawei's semiconductor products for AI are "probably comparable" to Nvidia's H200. Alibaba and Baidu, as well as other Chinese startups, are also racing to bring competitive products to Nvidia to the market. Huawei has been ramping up its Ascend line of AI products and using massive clusters of chips to try to get performance that is on par with Nvidia. Huang told CNBC in June that Huawei would have the country's chip needs covered if Nvidia were never allowed to sell there. Meanwhile, Alibaba , Tencent and Baidu have been using stockpiled Nvidia chips from before the ban, combined with local semiconductors, to develop models that have become advanced.
Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., departs following a meeting with members of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. Huang said he's unsure whether China would accept the company's H200 artificial intelligence chips should the US relax restrictions on sales of the processors, following a meeting Wednesday with President Donald Trump. Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
With China's drive to self-sufficiency resulting in advanced products, will Beijing want to allow its local companies to buy American products from Nvidia? "Capability wise, the Chinese ecosystem is catching up fast from semi to stack with models optimized on the silicon and software for significant local consumption," Shah said. He added that China getting "locked in" to Nvidia chips is a "liability with a hanging sword of political uncertainty." "This makes domestic self-sufficiency the only viable long-term strategy for Beijing," Shah said.
Reasons for China to buy the H200