A quiet nod from Beijing, Nvidia’s AI chips edge closer to a long-awaited return, but something bigger may be shifting beneath the surface.
Nvidia has reportedly secured approval from authorities in Beijing to sell its second-most powerful AI chips in the Chinese market. The company is also said to be developing a modified version of its AI chip offerings to comply with China’s regulatory requirements.
This long-awaited clearance could allow Nvidia to restart shipments of its H200 chips, which have become a key point of tension in ongoing US-China technology relations. China was once a significant market for Nvidia, contributing around 13% of its total revenue.
Despite strong interest from Chinese companies and partial export approvals from the US, delays on the Chinese side had remained a major obstacle to sales of the H200 chips. Regulatory uncertainty in both countries had previously forced Nvidia to pause chip production last year.
For months, Nvidia had been seeking approvals from both Washington and Beijing. While it had already received limited export permissions from the US, sources indicate that it has now obtained licenses for several Chinese customers as well.
Some Chinese firms say Nvidia has informed them that they can proceed with placing orders. However, there is still some ambiguity around whether Chinese authorities have fully granted final approval.
According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Nvidia noted that it had received a US license in February permitting limited shipments of H200 chips to select customers in China.
Earlier reports also indicated that ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba, along with AI startup DeepSeek, had been granted preliminary approval to import the chips. However, final regulatory conditions are still being worked out.
