The US government has approved the sale of Nvidia's H200 AI chips to about 10 Chinese firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, JD.com, Lenovo, and Foxconn acting as distributors or resellers [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Each company or reseller may buy up to 75,000 H200 chips either direct from Nvidia or through authorized distributors [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
Despite US clearance, no chip shipments have taken place as of mid-May 2026, with transactions reportedly stalled due to stronger internal Chinese restrictions that have prompted firms to suspend purchases [1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7]. Lenovo and Foxconn hold special distributor roles, with Lenovo publicly confirmed as an authorized reseller in China [1, 5, 6, 7].
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined US President Donald Trump's China delegation on short notice in mid-May 2026 in an effort to resolve the deadlock and promote chip sales to China [1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7]. Huang said, "It's important to be mindful that what harms China could oftentimes also harm America," and expressed hope for improved US-China relations based on the presidents' personal rapport [7, 1]. Trump urged to "Open up China so that these brilliant people can work their magic" [7].
Before US export restrictions tightened, Nvidia controlled roughly 95% of the market for advanced AI chips in China, with China accounting for around 13% of Nvidia's revenue [1, 4, 6]. However, new US export rules require all H200 chip shipments to transit US territory, raising concerns in China over potential tampering or embedded vulnerabilities [2, 4].
Nvidia projects AI-related revenue from China may reach $50 billion in 2026 [1, 4, 6]. The US government requires Nvidia to pay 25% of revenue from H200 sales in China back to the US [2, 5].
Meanwhile, Nvidia's share price soared 20% over a week to about $235 by May 14 before slipping to $225.32 on May 15 amid sustained analyst optimism about the company's growth prospects and forecasted record $190 billion profit for 2026 [8, 9, 10, 11, 12].
The US formally allowed Nvidia to sell H200 chips to Chinese firms with restrictions on January 13, 2026, with China reportedly approving imports by March 2026 [2, 7]. The next critical development could come from diplomatic talks or adjustments to Chinese internal policies influencing chip sales.
