It is reported that NVIDIA plans to ship AI chips to China before mid-February next year

American tech giant Nvidia has informed its Chinese customers that it plans to start shipping its second-strongest AI chips to China before the Lunar New Year next year.

Reuters, citing three people familiar with the matter, reported that Nvidia plans to first fulfill initial orders from its existing inventory, with an expected total shipment of 5,000 to 10,000 chip modules, equivalent to approximately 40,000 to 80,000 H200 AI chips.

Insiders also said that Nvidia has informed its Chinese customers that the company plans to add new production capacity for chips, and the relevant capacity orders will be available in the second quarter of 2026.

However, there is still considerable uncertainty as China has not yet approved any H200 purchases. The specific timetable may be adjusted according to the government's decision.

Insiders said, "The entire plan depends on government approval." Nothing is certain before obtaining the formal permission.

Nvidia and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China have not responded to this yet.

If the planned shipment is implemented, this will mark the first delivery of H200 wafers to China. This year, US President Trump allowed such sales, but a 25% fee was required.

Reuters reported last week that the Trump administration has initiated a cross-departmental review process to assess applications for licenses to sell H200 wafers to China.

This move marks a major shift in policy between the Trump administration and the former President Biden administration. The Biden administration previously banned the sale of advanced AI chips to China on national security grounds.

The H200 belongs to Nvidia's previous-generation Hopper series. Although it has been replaced by the company's updated Blackwell chips, it is still widely used in the AI field. Nvidia's current production focus has shifted to Blackwell and the upcoming Rubin series, leading to a tight supply of H200.

Trump's decision comes at a time when China is vigorously developing its domestic AI chip industry. Local enterprises have not yet reached the performance level of the H200, so the US allowing imports may raise concerns from the outside world that it will slow down domestic development.

Reuters reported that Chinese officials held an emergency meeting earlier this month to discuss the matter and are weighing whether to allow shipments. One of the proposals is that each purchase of H200 should be bundled with a certain proportion of domestic wafers for sale.

For Chinese tech giants like Alibaba Group and ByteDance that are interested in purchasing H200 wafers, if the shipment is confirmed, the processing capacity of the H200 wafers they purchase will be approximately six times that of the domestically downgraded H20 wafers.