Overview
- Chinese regulators told some tech firms to halt new H200 purchases this week while they set rules that could require buyers to pair imports with domestically made chips.
- Nvidia now requires Chinese customers to pay in full with no cancellations or refunds, allowing insurance or asset collateral in limited cases to secure orders.
- Chinese companies have placed orders exceeding 2 million H200 units, far above Nvidia’s roughly 700,000 in stock, with chips priced around $27,000 each.
- Initial deliveries are planned from existing inventory before mid‑February’s Lunar New Year, and Nvidia has asked TSMC to ramp additional H200 production starting in Q2 2026.
- Reports indicate Beijing may permit select commercial imports as soon as this quarter while excluding the military, sensitive agencies, critical infrastructure and state-owned enterprises.