The decision came during a visit to China by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who arrived in Shanghai last Friday and has since traveled to Beijing and other cities. According to sources, the Chinese government has attached conditions to the approvals, though the specific requirements have not yet been disclosed. A fifth source told Reuters that the licensing terms are overly restrictive, preventing customers from converting approvals into actual purchase orders. Beijing has previously considered requiring companies to buy a minimum quota of domestic chips when importing foreign semiconductors.

The H200 is Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI accelerator and delivers roughly six times the performance of the H20. Chinese firms have reportedly placed orders for more than two million H200 chips, far exceeding Nvidia’s current production capacity. Until now, Beijing had been reluctant to permit large-scale imports in an effort to support domestic chipmakers. The United States approved exports of the H200 to China in early January.