Chinese companies rush to buy as Nvidia set to resume AI chip sales in the country

Nvidia

Nvidia is preparing to resume shipments of its AI chips to China, following signals from the US government that export licenses will soon be granted. The move comes after nearly a year of stringent restrictions that barred Nvidia from selling its most advanced GPU accelerators to Chinese companies, a ban that inadvertently gave a boost to domestic rival Huawei’s Ascend series.

Nvidia confirmed it has filed the necessary applications to export its H20 chips — the most powerful models currently allowed under U.S. export laws. These chips, although less capable than the flagship GPUs Nvidia ships globally, are still highly sought-after in China’s AI sector.

The California-based chipmaker, now valued at $4.16 trillion, generated $17 billion in revenue from China in FY25, accounting for 13% of its total sales. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is currently in Beijing and expected to address the developments at a local event. The company noted, “The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon.”

News of the potential greenlight has triggered a wave of procurement activity. Major Chinese tech giants including ByteDance and Tencent are reportedly preparing to submit orders, all of which must be cleared by Washington.

While Chinese firms have flirted with local alternatives, they remain loyal to Nvidia’s CUDA platform, which enables advanced parallel processing vital for large-scale AI workloads. This developer ecosystem remains Nvidia’s strongest moat, even in restricted markets.

With shares jumping 3.98% to $170.60, investors are signalling confidence that Nvidia can walk the geopolitical tightrope — maintaining dominance in global AI computing, even as chip wars intensify. Huang himself has warned that exclusion from China could jeopardise Nvidia’s AI leadership, making this moment critical for both business and geopolitics.