A major technology deal remains in limbo as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang seeks a breakthrough in Beijing this week. Although the U.S. government cleared around 10 Chinese firms to purchase Nvidia's powerful H200 AI chips, not a single delivery has been made.
In a surprise move, Jensen Huang joined President Donald Trump’s delegation to China. Huang, whose company was once the dominant force in China’s chip market, is hoping the summit with President Xi Jinping will unlock stalled efforts to ship the coveted hardware.
Approved Buyers including Tech Giants Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and JD.com and distributors of Lenovo and Foxconn. Each approved customer can purchase up to 75,000 chips.
Why the Deals are Stalling
Despite U.S. permission, the chips are not moving. The deadlock is driven by two primary factors:
China’s Domestic Push: Beijing is reportedly pressuring local firms to pivot toward homegrown AI chips, such as those from Huawei and DeepSeek, to reduce foreign dependency.
The "Trump Tax" & Security Tangles: A unique arrangement negotiated by the Trump administration requires the U.S. to receive 25% of the revenue from these sales. To facilitate this, chips must pass through U.S. territory first—a move that has sparked fears in Beijing regarding potential hardware tampering.
High Stakes for Nvidia
Before export curbs tightened, Nvidia held 95% of China’s advanced chip market. Huang has warned that current trade friction has effectively dropped Nvidia's market share in China to nearly zero.
While "China hardliners" in Washington argue that blocking these sales protects the U.S. lead in AI, Nvidia faces the reality of losing a market estimated to be worth $50 billion this year alone.
