Nvidia awaits China approval to sell H200 AI chip

Nvidia, the US-based chipmaker, is waiting for China to complete licensing approval for its powerful H200 artificial intelligence chip, as demand from Chinese tech giants continues to grow.

The development involves Nvidia, Chinese regulators, and major tech companies, as well as US export regulations.

Nvidia, the US chipmaker firm, said that the licence to sell the H200 AI chip is still being finalised. Speaking to reporters in Taipei after a visit to China, Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said that the discussions are ongoing and the decision is now left to the Chinese government.

He said that the chip would enable American tech leadership and also cater to the high demand in the Chinese market.

According to Reuters, China has approved ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent's request to purchase Nvidia H200 chips made by American chipmaker Nvidia. The three companies have the potential to procure more than 400,000 chips. However, it has been stated that there are certain conditions associated with these approvals, which are yet to be finalised.

There were discussions in China about whether it should make it mandatory for these companies to procure a certain quantity of chips before allowing them to procure foreign chips.

The Nvidia H200 is the second most powerful chip offered by the company, providing six times the performance of the H20 chip. Reuters states that Chinese companies have ordered over two million H200 chips, which is much higher than what Nvidia can currently produce.