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Nvidia to ship up to 80,000 H200 chips to China before Lunar New Year
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 05:40 AM
Nvidia is reportedly preparing to ship between 40,000 and 80,000 H200 chips to the Chinese market using current stock before the Lunar New Year.
Context
Nvidia plans to ship between 40,000 and 80,000 H200 AI chips to China ahead of the Lunar New Year in mid-February 2026. These initial deliveries will be sourced from existing inventory to satisfy immediate demand from Chinese technology leaders like Alibaba and ByteDance. The shipment follows a landmark policy shift by the Trump administration allowing the export of the H200, a processor approximately six times more powerful than the previous China-specific H20.
The deal requires Nvidia to pay a 25% fee to the U.S. government on these sales, effectively using the technology as a trade bargaining tool. While the H200 is now surpassed by the newer Blackwell architecture, it remains a critical asset for Chinese AI scaling. Future availability depends on final approval from Beijing, which may mandate that buyers purchase domestic chips alongside Nvidia hardware. Nvidia expects to expand production capacity to accommodate further Chinese orders starting in the second quarter of 2026.
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