Dec 22 (Reuters) - Nvidia has told Chinese clients it aims to start shipping its second-most powerful AI chips to China before the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The U.S. chipmaker plans to fulfil initial orders from existing stock, with shipments expected to total 5,000 to 10,000 chip modules - equivalent to about 40,000 to 80,000 H200 AI chips, the first and second sources said.
Nvidia has also told Chinese clients that it plans to add
new production capacity for the chips, with orders for that capacity opening in the second quarter of 2026, the third source said.
Significant uncertainty remains, as Beijing has yet to approve any H200 purchases and the timeline could shift depending on government decisions, the sources said.
MAJOR POLICY SHIFT
"The whole plan is contingent on government approval," the third source said. "Nothing is certain until we get the official go-ahead."
The sources declined to be identified as the discussions are private. Nvidia and China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The planned shipments would mark the first deliveries of H200 chips to China after U.S. President Donald Trump said this month that Washington would allow such sales with a 25% fee.
Reuters reported last week that the Trump administration had launched an inter-agency review of license applications for H200 chip sales to China, making good on his pledge to allow the sales.
The move represents a major policy shift from the Biden administration, which banned advanced AI chip sales to China citing national security concerns.
The H200, part of Nvidia's previous-generation Hopper line, remains widely used in AI despite being superseded by the firm's newer Blackwell chips. Nvidia has focused production on Blackwell and its upcoming Rubin line, making H200 supply scarce.
Trump's decision comes as China pushes to develop its domestic AI chip industry. Local firms have yet to match the H200's performance, raising concerns that allowing imports could slow domestic progress.
Chinese officials held emergency meetings earlier this month to discuss the matter and are weighing whether to allow shipments, Reuters reported this month. One proposal would require each H200 purchase to be bundled with a set ratio of domestic chips, according to the report.
For Chinese technology giants such as Alibaba Group and ByteDance, which have expressed interest in buying H200 chips, the potential shipments would provide access to processors roughly six times more powerful than the H20, a downgraded chip Nvidia designed for China.
(Reporting by Reuters newsroom. Editing by Miyoung Kim and Mark Potter)
