China has approved its top AI startup DeepSeek to buy Nvidia H200 artificial intelligence chips, with regulatory conditions that are still being finalized.
The approval has not been fully signed off yet, but it clears a major hurdle for DeepSeek to access one of Nvidia’s most advanced processors. This decision places China at the center of another sensitive chapter in global AI supply chains.
The approval comes after regulators in China also cleared ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to buy large volumes of the same chip. Reuters is alleging that the three companies were allowed to purchase more than 400,000 H200 chips in total.
DeepSeek’s case is separate but linked, and it sits under the same regulatory framework now being finalized by authorities in China.
Regulators set conditions as U.S. and Nvidia respond
The approvals were issued by China’s industry and commerce ministries. All four companies received permission, but each deal comes with conditions that are not public yet.
One source reportedly said the terms are being written by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the state planner that oversees major industrial decisions. Until those conditions are completed, no shipment can legally proceed.
On Nvidia’s side, clarity is limited. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, spoke to reporters in Taipei on Thursday and said the company had not received confirmation of DeepSeek’s approval. After the introduction, Jensen said he believed the license process inside China was still ongoing. Nvidia did not respond to a separate request for comment about DeepSeek.
The H200 chip is Nvidia’s second most powerful AI processor. It has become a pressure point in relations between the United States and China. Chinese firms want the chip. The U.S. cleared exports earlier this month. Beijing, however, still controls whether imports are allowed. That hesitation has been the main barrier to shipments reaching China.
Early last year, DeepSeek released AI models that were far cheaper to build than systems from U.S. rivals such as OpenAI. Those releases shook parts of the tech sector. DeepSeek did not respond to a request for comment on the H200 approval.
There is also political risk. Any H200 purchase by DeepSeek could face scrutiny in Washington. Reuters reported that a senior U.S. lawmaker claimed Nvidia helped DeepSeek improve AI models later used by the Chinese military. The claim appeared in a letter sent to Howard Lutnick, the U.S. Commerce Secretary.
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