China okays NVIDIA's H200 AI chips—but with serious limits

Business Jan 08, 2026

China is about to let some local companies buy NVIDIA's H200 AI chips, but only for specific business uses.
The catch? These older chips aren't allowed near military, sensitive government agencies, critical infrastructure, or state-owned enterprises.
The US is fine with exporting the H200 to China, but not NVIDIA's newer tech.

Why does this matter?

China wants to boost its own chip industry and cut back on relying on foreign tech—there's even $70 billion in incentives up for grabs.
Still, big names like Alibaba and ByteDance are lining up for over 200,000 of these NVIDIA chips each.
Meanwhile, Chinese brands like Huawei and Cambricon are racing to increase production of their own AI chips in 2026, so expect some serious competition ahead.