China plans to let top AI firms buy limited Nvidia H200 chips, the Information reports

July 8 (Reuters) - China is planning to allow the country’s top AI companies to buy a limited number of Nvidia’s H200 chips, the Information reported on Wednesday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

 

Chinese officials have told Alibaba, ByteDance and DeepSeek in recent weeks that they may soon receive permission to buy some H200 chips, the report said.

Shares of Nvidia rose 1% after the report.

 

The chip giant did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, nor did the U.S. commerce department, which oversees exports of advanced AI chips overseas.

 

China’s commerce ministry also did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Alibaba, ByteDance and DeepSeek did not respond outside of regular business hours.

 

The U.S. government has allowed Nvidia to sell its advanced H200 chips to China, and licensed about 10 Chinese firms to buy the chips. However, Chinese officials, keen to nurture domestic suppliers, have withheld approval so far.

 

Reuters reported in March that Nvidia had won Beijing’s approval to sell the chips to China, citing sources, and around the same time, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also told CNBC that the company had clearance from China.

 

Beijing is still determining the exact number of Nvidia chips to approve, and it could amount to fewer than 200,000 in total, the Information said, adding that was less than half of what the companies requested earlier this year.

 

Last month, Reuters exclusively reported that Nvidia told Chinese clients its new "Vera" central processors for AI data centres could be available as soon as August and that they can begin placing orders.

 

Nvidia’s market share in China has effectively fallen to zero, Huang said in October, hurt by U.S. export controls and Beijing’s push for self-reliance in key technologies.

 

The potential shift in China’s stance underscores the growing computing capacity crunch that the country’s tech companies are facing.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)