Is Huawei Under Pressure? China Reportedly to Allow Purchase of NVIDIA's H200 Chips, Limited to 'These 3 Chinese Firms'

The United States has imposed AI export controls restricting NVIDIA's high-performance chips from being sold to China. In response, NVIDIA developed a downgraded 'China-specific' version of its H200 chip. However, China retaliated by banning procurement of these chips.

According to a recent report by tech media outlet The Information, Beijing is now planning to allow limited purchases of the H200 chip by Chinese AI companies, with total volume likely under 200,000 units—less than half of what companies had earlier requested.

Reuters, citing the report, stated that Chinese authorities have recently informed Alibaba, ByteDance, and DeepSeek that they may soon be permitted to purchase some H200 chips. NVIDIA has not responded to Reuters' request for comment. The three Chinese firms did not respond due to non-business hours in their local time zones. The U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees AI chip exports, and China's Ministry of Commerce also did not reply.

The Information reported that Beijing is still finalizing the approved quantity of H200 chips, with the total likely under 200,000 units—less than half of the demand submitted by relevant companies earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported last month that NVIDIA has informed its Chinese customers that shipments of its next-generation AI data center CPU, 'Vera,' will begin as early as August, and customers can already place orders.

The report noted that the U.S. government has already allowed NVIDIA to sell the H200 to China and approved around 10 Chinese firms to purchase the product. However, due to China's policy of supporting domestic suppliers, procurement has not been authorized. In October last year, Jensen Huang stated that NVIDIA's market share in China had effectively dropped to nearly zero.

With Chinese firms unable to use NVIDIA chips, Huawei has become the dominant AI chip supplier in the Chinese market. However, the current shift in China's stance highlights the increasingly severe shortage of AI computing power faced by local tech firms.

Additional exclusive reports from Feng Media: · 'DeepSeek is developing its own AI chip' – Reuters reveals the biggest victim 'is not NVIDIA': This Chinese firm is nervous · Fearing H200 costs would be wasted, China banned chip imports – Foreign media reports: NVIDIA's supply chain has temporarily halted production · The era of the 'AI wafer factory' has arrived! TSMC announces full integration of NVIDIA AI – Huang Renxun and Wei Zhejia speak jointly