According to the report, Chinese regulators recently granted preliminary approval to Alibaba, Tencent Holdings, and ByteDance (the owner of TikTok) to move to the next stage of procurement preparations. This suggests that China is approaching official approval for importing AI components from the United States.

However, Beijing is expected to require companies to purchase a certain quota of domestically produced Chinese chips as a condition for approving imports, the sources said. The exact quota has not yet been determined.

Bloomberg noted that once the import of H200 chips is approved, their use will be prohibited in sensitive institutions and critical infrastructure facilities.

Previously, Alibaba and ByteDance privately informed Nvidia that each company is interested in ordering more than 200,000 units of the H200 chips.

 Conclusion

Overall, Beijing’s approach reflects a strategic effort to balance access to advanced U.S. AI technology with the promotion of domestic semiconductor development. By linking Nvidia imports to mandatory purchases of Chinese chips, China aims to reduce long-term dependence on foreign suppliers.