By By Karen Freifeld, Max A. Cherney and Liam Mo
Publication Date: 2026-03-18 04:49:00
By Karen Freifeld, Max A. Cherney and Liam Mo
NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) – Nvidia has won Beijing’s approval to sell its second-most powerful artificial intelligence chips to China and is also preparing a version of the Groq AI chip that can be sold to the Chinese market, sources familiar with the matter said.
The long-awaited regulatory approval paves the way for the U.S. chipmaker to resume sales of the H200 chips, which have emerged as a major flashpoint in U.S.-China relations, in a market that once generated 13% of Nvidia’s total revenue.
Despite strong demand from Chinese firms and U.S. approval for exports, Beijing’s hesitation to allow imports has been the main barrier to shipments of the H200 chips to China.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that it had been licensed for “many customers in China” for the H200 and had received purchase orders from “many” companies, allowing it to resume production of the chip.
“Our supply chain is getting fired up,” Huang said at a press conference.
The company had halted production last year of the chip because of increasing regulatory hurdles in the U.S. and China, according to a report at the time.
Nvidia had been waiting for licenses from both the U.S. and China for months. It has received some U.S. approvals, and a source familiar with the matter said the company had now also received licenses for many customers in China from Beijing.
A spokesperson for the Chinese…