China allows several major tech companies to buy Nvidia chips - Reuters

Beijing has given three major technology companies ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent permission to import Nvidia H200 chips, the second most powerful in the company's line of artificial intelligence processors. Reuters writes about this with reference to sources.

According to the agency's interlocutors, companies were approved for a total purchase of more than 400 thousand H200 chips. Other Chinese firms are also awaiting approvals.

Licenses issued for the purchase of chips provide for significant restrictions. Which ones exactly are unclear, but as Reuters notes, Chinese officials have previously told businesses they should only purchase chips when necessary. Among the previously discussed restrictions was, for example, a quota for the purchase of domestic chips. That is, each purchase of H200 had to be accompanied by the purchase of domestic processors in a certain ratio.

Earlier, in December 2025, US President Donald Trump approved the supply of Nvidia H200 chips to China, and a little later the American government officially issued the company an export permit.

The final decision on the fate of supplies to China, however, remained with Beijing. As the agency notes, until recently it remained unclear whether the Chinese authorities would issue the appropriate permit, as the government seeks to find a balance between meeting the growing demand for advanced chips and the development of domestic industry in this area.

Analysts estimate that the H200 chips are nearly six times more powerful than the H20, until recently the most advanced AI component approved for sale in China.