Khaberni - The Information website mentioned on Tuesday, citing two informed sources, that the Chinese government informed some technology companies this week that it will only approve their purchases of H200 chips from Nvidia under special circumstances, such as university research.
This move indicates that Beijing remains cautious about fully reopening the Chinese market to Nvidia, whose chips are pivotal in running artificial intelligence applications and the most advanced data centers.
The report stated that the Chinese government issued a "deliberately vague" directive, asking some technology companies to purchase the chips only when "necessary," without clarifying what that entails.
Last week, the site mentioned that China had asked some companies to stop their orders of H200 chips, as it seeks to prioritize local companies in its race to dominate artificial intelligence technologies.
Nvidia is in a sensitive position between Washington and Beijing, as the United States considers tightening export controls on its more advanced chips, while China pushes to enhance its domestic AI capabilities and encourages companies to reduce dependence on foreign technology.
Nvidia or the Chinese Embassy in the United States have not yet responded to a Reuters request for comment.
The report added that the Chinese government plans to hold additional meetings with more companies to provide guidance on purchasing, but it is not yet clear whether those sessions will include any new instructions.
In December last year, Nvidia notified its customers in China of its plans to begin shipping the "H200" chip, its second most powerful AI chip, before the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February.
The company aims to supply between 40,000 to 80,000 chips from its current inventory, but sources confirmed that the implementation timeline is entirely contingent on receiving official approvals from China, which have not yet granted the green light to finalize the deal, according to Business Times.
These moves come in response to the recent shift in U.S. policy after President Donald Trump announced allowing the sale of these advanced chips with a 25% fee, abandoning the ban imposed by the previous administration.
While these shipments will provide Chinese technology giants like "Alibaba" and "ByteDance" with processing capabilities six times the solutions currently available, Beijing considers the situation carefully amid concerns that the influx of American chips could slow the pace of local industry development.
