China has told some of its tech companies to halt orders of Nvidia’s (NVDA) H200 GPUs before the government makes a decision on whether to allow the chips to be sold in the country, The Information reported.
Nvidia shares rose in morning trading, but were off the highs of the session following the report.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
Chinese government officials have told some of the companies to suspend their purchase orders on the chips before a decision is made, the news outlet added, citing people familiar with the matter. The government does not want tech companies rushing to stockpile the chips before it makes its decision, one of the people added.
The Chinese government is also debating what, if any, conditions, should be placed on the GPUs if they’re sold in the country.
ByteDance (BDNCE) and Alibaba (BABA) are among the Chinese companies thinking about ordering H200s from Nvidia, which reportedly has been in contact with Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) about increasing production.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said this week he does not believe the Chinese government will make a formal declaration that it has allowed Chinese companies to import the chipmaker’s H200 GPUs. Instead, the proof will come through purchase orders.
“My expectation is that we’re not expecting any press releases or any large declarations,” Huang said. “It’s just going to be purchase orders. If the purchase orders come, it’s because they’re able to place purchase orders.”
Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump approved the sale of some advanced AI chips, including Nvidia’s H200 GPUs, to China. The H200 is the predecessor to its current flagship Blackwell chips and the upcoming Vera Rubin.
On Tuesday, Nvidia’s CFO Colette Kress told analysts during a meeting at CES 2026 in Las Vegas on Monday that license applications for the H200 have been filed and the government is deciding what it wants to do with them. Huang had described the demand for the chips as strong.
(Seeking Alpha’s Ravikash Bakolia contributed to this story.)