By @CNBC
Publication Date: 2025-12-22 12:42:00
Nvidia H100 chips inside a server room at the Yotta Data Services Pvt. data center, in Navi Mumbai, India, on Thursday, March 14, 2024.
Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Nvidia has told Chinese clients it aims to start shipping its second-most powerful AI chips to China before the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The U.S. chipmaker plans to fulfil initial orders from existing stock, with shipments expected to total 5,000 to 10,000 chip modules — equivalent to about 40,000 to 80,000 H200 AI chips, the first and second sources said.
Nvidia has also told Chinese clients that it plans to add new production capacity for the chips, with orders for that capacity opening in the second quarter of 2026, the third source said.
Significant uncertainty remains, as Beijing has yet to approve any H200 purchases and the timeline could shift depending on government decisions, the sources said.
Major policy shift
“The whole plan is contingent on government approval,” the third source said. “Nothing is certain until we get the official go-ahead.”
The sources declined to be identified as the discussions are private. Nvidia and China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The planned shipments would mark the first deliveries of H200 chips to China after U.S. President Donald Trump said this month that Washington would allow such sales with a 25%…
