Chinese regulators have signaled a major shift in trade policy by telling the country’s largest technology firms that they can begin preparing orders for Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) H200 artificial intelligence chips.
Regulators recently granted in-principle approval for Chinese tech giants, including Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA), Tencent Holding Ltd (OTC:TCEHY), and ByteDance, for the next stage of purchasing preparations.
These companies now have clearance to discuss specific requirements, such as the exact volume of chips they will need for their operations.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Friday that Beijing will likely encourage these firms to purchase a certain amount of domestic chips as a condition for final approval.
Strategic Victory for Nvidia
Formal approval would represent a significant win for Nvidia as it attempts to resume business within the world’s largest semiconductor arena.
CEO Jensen Huang has estimated that the AI chip segment alone could generate $50 billion in the coming years, according to the report.
While Nvidia was absent from the market, local rivals like Huawei Technologies and Cambricon Technologies thrived and planned to increase their own production levels.
High Demand Despite Domestic Push
Alibaba and ByteDance previously expressed private interest in ordering more than 200,000 H200 units each to upgrade their models and compete with U.S. rivals like OpenAI.
Beijing plans to approve these imports as soon as this quarter, though the chips will likely remain barred from sensitive agencies and critical infrastructure.
Reportedly, U.S. export limits on Nvidia’s most advanced chips have forced Chinese companies to absorb higher costs.
Regulatory delays have kept many shipments stuck at the border even after Washington approved exports.
That uncertainty has pushed Chinese AI firms to turn to costly black-market supplies or lower-performance domestic chips such as Huawei’s Ascend line.
Resellers in China reported that black-market servers containing 8 H200 GPUs are currently commanding a 50% premium at roughly 2.3 million yuan ($330,403).
NVDA Price Action: Nvidia shares were up 1.24% at $187.14 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Photo by Saulo Ferreira Angelo via Shutterstock
