China has approved its key AI startup, DeepSeek (DEEPSEEK), to buy Nvidia’s (NVDA) H200 artificial intelligence chips, although the final regulatory conditions are still being finalized, Reuters reported, citing two sources.
Reuters also reported earlier this week that ByteDance (BDNCE), Alibaba (BABA), and Tencent (TCEHY) have been cleared to purchase more than 400,000 H200 chips in total.
The report comes a day after Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said that the company has yet to receive orders for H200 chips from Chinese customers, noting that Beijing was still deliberating on whether to allow imports of the U.S. firm’s products.
Huang added that the H200 is “very good” for the Chinese market and that customers are eager to buy it. Introduced in 2023 and shipped beginning in 2024, the H200 belongs to Nvidia’s Hopper generation, trailing the current Blackwell line and two generations behind the upcoming Rubin platform.