NVIDIA has secured US authorization to sell its H200 GPUs to specific companies in China. However, following the summit between Trump and Xi Jinping, the business transactions remain at a standstill. Reuters exclusively reports that Washington has greenlit approximately 10 Chinese entities, including tech giants like Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and JD.com, to acquire these artificial intelligence GPUs. Distributors such as Lenovo and Foxconn have also received the go-ahead. Despite this, not a single H200 has been delivered yet. What exactly is going on?
Jensen Huang’s visit to China, coinciding with the delegation of American tech entrepreneurs, occurred as Trump and Xi Jinping met in Beijing. NVIDIA is attempting to unblock sales that already have a US license but have yet to materialize.
NVIDIA Can Sell H200 to 10 Chinese Companies with Restrictions
Prior to recent restrictions, NVIDIA held approximately 95% of the Chinese market for advanced chips, with China accounting for 13% of its revenue. Huang had estimated that the Chinese artificial intelligence market could generate $50 billion this year. Now, according to Reuters, Huang has warned that his market share for AI accelerators within China has fallen to virtually zero, though he expressed optimism after his trip with Trump.
The licenses under the new US-China agreement permit each authorized customer to purchase up to 75,000 H200 chips, either directly from NVIDIA or through intermediaries, which theoretically opens up the markets. Lenovo, for instance, confirmed to Reuters that it is one of the approved companies for H200 sales in China. The US Department of Commerce declined to comment, and NVIDIA, Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, JD.com, and Foxconn also did not respond, likely due to the prevailing atmosphere of tension and the many other interests at stake.
A Tug-of-War Where Neither Side Wants to Sell or Buy, But No Doors are Closed
The real bottleneck is in Beijing, as might be expected following Xi Jinping’s recent actions. Revealed information indicates that Chinese companies have hesitated after receiving guidance from the Chinese government, amidst increasing pressure to block or review these orders. Howard Lutnick, US Secretary of Commerce, stated in the Senate that the central Chinese government has not yet permitted these chip purchases because it aims to keep investment focused on its domestic industry.
Therefore, the sales come with conditions. US regulations from January mandate that Chinese buyers demonstrate sufficient security procedures and guarantee that the GPUs will not be used for military purposes. NVIDIA must also certify that it has sufficient inventory in the US.
A curious point in the agreement negotiated by Trump is that the US would receive 25% of the revenue from these sales, making the previous modification of conditions surprisingly still in effect. To legally incorporate this, the H200s would have to pass through US territory before reaching China, as US law does not allow for the direct imposition of export taxes. In Beijing, this arrangement has raised doubts about potential manipulation or hidden vulnerabilities. Clearly, no one trusts anyone here.
China has also approved two new supply chain security regulations to identify and eliminate foreign dependencies in critical technology. Meanwhile, firms like DeepSeek increasingly boast about using domestic chips, including those from Huawei, though rumors suggest this might be untrue, as they could actually be using NVIDIA chips.
Regardless of how this drama unfolds, NVIDIA has the permission and approved companies to sell its H200s, but China is looking inward before releasing the funds, in a kind of performative tug-of-war whose ultimate outcome remains uncertain.
