Now that it can legally export them, Nvidia has reportedly informed its Chinese customers that it’ll begin shipping H200s, one of its most potent graphics accelerators for AI training and inference, in time for Chinese New Year. One caveat: Beijing could spike the deal before then.
Citing persons familiar with the matter, Reuters reports that initial orders will be fulfilled using existing stock with between 5,000 and 10,000 HGX boards totaling 40,000 to 80,000 GPUs up for grabs.
This suggests that Nvidia will be prioritizing the more powerful SXM variant of the H200, which is better suited for training applications than its PCIe-based NVL cards.
Nvidia recently received the go-ahead from the Trump administration to begin selling its older H200 accelerators to the Middle Kingdom for the first time. The decision marked a significant reversal of long-standing trade policy earlier this month. In exchange, Nvidia will cut Uncle Sam in on 25 percent of the revenues from the sale. Nvidia’s most powerful Blackwell-based chips remain unobtainium in the Chinese market, with little indication that’ll change any time soon.
The Trump administration had previously proposed a 15 percent sales tax to restore sales of H20s, a nerfed version of the H200, in China back in July. Despite this, Hopper sales have fallen off considerably over the past year, accounting for $2 billion in sales in Q3. Of that, H20 sales only account for $50 million, with CFO Colette Kress placing the blame on “geopolitical issues and the increasingly competitive market in China.”
According to Reuters, Nvidia has warned its customers that the timing of shipments will depend heavily on approval by authorities in Beijing.
The Middle Kingdom has become increasingly hostile towards Nvidia in recent months, with government authorities reportedly pressuring hyperscalers to drop Nvidia in favor of domestic alternatives. The nation has also moved to block state-funded datacenters from deploying foreign AI chips.
But if these hurdles can be overcome, the Chinese market represents a massive opportunity for Nvidia. On the company’s Q2 earnings call, CEO Jensen Huang estimated that China would have been a $50 billion market in 2025 if it’d been allowed to sell competitive products in the region.
If Nvidia is successful in convincing China to approve H200 shipments, Reuters reports that production of Hopper GPUs could resume at foundry partner TSMC with additional capacity available starting in the second half of 2026.
The Register reached out to Nvidia for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication. ®
