Nvidia has slashed its list of authorized Asian AI chip customers by more than half, according to a Financial Times report, triggering a 3.52% drop in the company's stock. The new “white list” system focuses on Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan, where tougher compliance checks have blocked over 50% of previous buyers, many of them neo‑cloud providers renting out AI computing power. The move follows months of pressure from the Trump administration to seal loopholes that allowed advanced US chips to reach China via third countries.
The tightened vetting process now includes physical data center visits, contract verification, and end‑user interviews, with direct oversight from the US Department of Commerce. Companies removed from the list can reapply after making required adjustments, but the immediate impact is a significant reduction in Nvidia’s customer base in a fast‑growing region. In March, a Supermicro co‑founder was charged in a $2.5 billion scheme allegedly shipping Nvidia chips to China through Southeast Asian proxies, underscoring the severity of the crackdown.
Meanwhile, Beijing continues to bar imports of Nvidia’s H200 chips to bolster its domestic semiconductor industry, though reports suggest Alibaba, ByteDance, and DeepSeek may soon receive limited access — restricted to AI training and non‑sensitive public data, with a cap of around 200,000 units. Nvidia’s CEO has acknowledged ceding the Chinese market to local players like Huawei. The tightening export controls and dual‑sided restrictions highlight growing tech bifurcation between the US and China, with ripple effects across global AI supply chains.
