Nvidia Targets Mid-February for H200 Chip Shipments to China
Nvidia plans to begin shipping its H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China before the Lunar New Year in mid-February, according to three people familiar with the matter. The move follows the Trump administration’s recent decision to permit sales of the chips to China under a 25% fee, reversing the previous ban imposed by President Biden.
Shipments Dependent on Beijing’s Approval
The U.S. chipmaker intends to meet initial demand using existing stock, with shipments expected to include 5,000 to 10,000 modules—equivalent to roughly 40,000 to 80,000 H200 chips, sources said. Nvidia has also informed Chinese clients that it plans to expand production capacity, with new orders for additional capacity opening in the second quarter of 2026.
However, the plan remains uncertain as Beijing has yet to approve any H200 imports. “The whole plan is contingent on government approval. Nothing is certain until we get the official go-ahead,” one source cautioned.
Nvidia, in a statement to Reuters, said it is managing its supply chain carefully and confirmed that licensed H200 sales to authorised Chinese customers will not affect supply to U.S. clients. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has not yet commented on the potential imports.
Policy Reversal Signals Strategic Shift
The planned shipments would mark the first delivery of H200 chips to China since Washington’s policy reversal. Earlier this month, President Trump announced that the U.S. would approve chip sales to China subject to a 25% fee. The administration subsequently began an inter-agency review of H200 export licences, signalling a significant shift from the Biden administration’s stricter controls on AI chip exports over national security concerns.
The H200, part of Nvidia’s Hopper series, remains widely used in AI applications even though it has been overtaken by newer Blackwell chips. Nvidia has now prioritised production of the Blackwell line and its upcoming Rubin series, making H200 supplies limited.
Balancing Competition and Cooperation
China continues to push for self-sufficiency in AI chip development, yet local manufacturers still lag behind Nvidia’s performance standards. Some Chinese officials have reportedly considered allowing H200 imports on the condition that buyers also purchase a proportional number of domestic chips to support local innovation.
Major Chinese technology firms, including Alibaba Group and ByteDance, are among those expressing interest in acquiring H200 units. For them, the potential imports represent access to processors roughly six times more powerful than Nvidia’s H20—a reduced-performance model designed to comply with earlier U.S. export restrictions.
If approved, the shipments would help Chinese companies strengthen their AI infrastructure while offering Nvidia renewed access to a lucrative but tightly regulated market.
with inputs from Reuters
