China Approves First Nvidia H200 AI Chip Imports

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

China has granted its first approvals for Nvidia Corp. (NVDA, Financials) to import H200 artificial intelligence chips, signaling a partial relaxation of restrictions as demand for advanced computing accelerates.

According to sources who know about it, the clearance, which included several hundred thousand chips, was given out during Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s trip to China this week. Reports say that the first allocations went to three big Chinese internet corporations, and other companies are waiting for more batches.

After months of strict rules on sophisticated semiconductor imports, this change is a big deal. Analysts believe it shows that Beijing needs high performance AI processors right now to run data centers and fund domestic research, even though the government is trying to improve its own chipmaking skills.

The announcement made Nvidia’s stock go up 1.1%. Even though the U.S. still has export restrictions, the company is still one of the few global providers that can handle the needs of large-scale AI computing.