China has granted its leading AI startup, DeepSeek, permission to purchase Nvidia's H200 chips. This was reported by Reuters citing sources.
ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have also received approval to acquire a total of over 400,000 chips.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that he is unaware of the new decision. According to him, Chinese authorities are still finalizing the terms of the license.
"It is in the final stages. I hope the Chinese government will allow Nvidia to sell the chips. I look forward to a favorable decision," he said.
According to Reuters, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has approved the import under certain conditions that are still being worked out, as determined by the National Development and Reform Commission.
In January, the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump officially permitted the sale of Nvidia's second most powerful AI chips, the H200, to China. However, the Chinese government informed some tech companies that it would approve purchases only in special cases, such as for university research.
Under U.S. regulations, an independent testing laboratory must verify the chip's technical capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence before it can be sold.
In China, no more than 50% of the total number of semiconductors sold to American clients can be supplied.
Nvidia must confirm that there is a sufficient quantity of H200 chips in the U.S., and Chinese clients must demonstrate "security measures" and ensure the chips are not used for military purposes.
It is worth noting that in December 2025, Nvidia developed technology to track the location of its processors.