China is poised to greenlight certain imports of Nvidia Corp.'s H200 chips as early as this quarter, according to sources with knowledge of the matter, potentially restoring the company's access to a vital market.
Officials in China are making arrangements to permit domestic firms to procure the component from Nvidia for specific commercial applications, the sources indicated, requesting anonymity due to the private nature of the discussions.
Should these entities continue to request the use of the component, their applications will be evaluated individually on a case-by-case basis, the sources further clarified.
Even with these stipulations, the development marks a significant victory for Nvidia. As the globe's largest semiconductor market, China represents a massive opportunity, with CEO Jensen Huang projecting the AI chip segment alone could be worth $50 billion in the near future.
The H200 is a previous-generation chip that the Trump administration had deemed acceptable for export to China. The US government currently blocks sales of more sophisticated processors, citing national security concerns. Nvidia is the dominant manufacturer of artificial intelligence accelerators—the crucial chips that power the development and operation of AI models—which are in high demand by data center operators worldwide.
