Alibaba (BABA) and ByteDance (BDNCE) have asked Nvidia (NVDA) about buying its advanced H200 AI chip after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to allow the export of the graphics processing units to China, Reuters reported, citing four people familiar with the matter.
The Chinese companies intend to place large orders for Nvidia’s second most powerful AI chip, should China give them the green light, but they remain concerned about supply and are seeking clarity from Nvidia, the report added.
Alibaba and ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
On Tuesday, it was reported that China is set to limit access to Nvidia’s H200 chips despite Trump’s approval as the country pushes to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductor manufacturing. Chinese regulators have been discussing ways to permit limited access to the H200 GPUs. Previously, the most advanced AI semiconductor that could legally be exported to China was the H20.
On Wednesday, The Information reported that Chinese regulators gathered representatives from companies including Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent (TCTZF) (TCEHY) and asked them to evaluate their demand for the H200. The officials told the companies they would be informed of China’s decision soon, the news outlet added, citing sources.
Very limited quantities of H200 are currently in manufacturing, Reuters reported, citing two other people familiar with Nvidia’s supply chain, as the company has been focused more on its most advanced Blackwell and upcoming Rubin lines.
Chinese companies are keen on buying the H200 as its ability to train AI models is currently unmatched by local equivalents, which are more suitable for inference, the report added.
Elite Chinese universities, data center companies, and entities affiliated to China’s military have also looking to procure H200 chips via grey-market channels, according to a Reuters’ review of over 100 tenders and academic papers, the report noted.
Chinese companies expect authorities may need to review purchase requests and require them to provide use cases as they discuss the costs and benefits of allowing H200 imports at a time they want to encourage sales of AI chips locally made by companies such as Huawei Technologies and Cambricon, the report added.