Nvidia shares rose in early trading after the company confirmed it had secured a U.S. government license allowing the conditional export of a limited number of its H200 artificial intelligence chips to China. The stock's advance reflected investor relief that Nvidia has regained at least partial access to a critical market, even as the approval stops short of a full reopening of Chinese sales.
The license permits Nvidia to ship a capped volume of the less-advanced H200 chips, subject to U.S. inspection requirements and a 25% duty. Nvidia cautioned that it has not yet generated any revenue from these potential exports and remains uncertain whether Chinese authorities will ultimately permit the imports. The company excluded China data-center sales from its first-quarter forecast, signaling management's cautious stance.
Analysts interpret the move as a tactical response to China's growing domestic AI capabilities, including those developed by Huawei, rather than a softening of policy. U.S. officials reportedly reviewed the rapid progress of homegrown Chinese chips before granting the license. Allowing controlled H200 exports may be aimed at slowing China's push toward full semiconductor self-reliance while keeping Chinese AI workloads tied, even partially, to Nvidia's dominant CUDA software platform.
Despite the approval, China's response has been cautious. Reports indicate that some major Chinese technology firms have been advised to avoid purchasing H200 chips unless absolutely necessary. This hesitancy reflects uncertainty around future sanctions, supply continuity, and political risk.
Separately, Nvidia's strong quarterly earnings, reporting record revenue of $68.1 billion (up 73% year-over-year), have fueled a rally in its supply chain partners. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both surged over 7% to record highs following the earnings report. Samsung is reportedly close to becoming the exclusive supplier of HBM4 memory chips for Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin processors, while SK Hynix announced a new partnership with SanDisk to develop flash memory storage built for AI workloads.
