The flea war. The technological standoff between Washington and China takes an unexpected turn. While Donald Trump is seeking common ground with Xi Jinping and the United States ended up authorizing around ten Chinese companies to obtain H200 chips from Nvidia, not a single copy has yet crossed the Pacific. Jensen Huang, boss of the American manufacturer, sees deliveries to China remaining completely blocked.
- The technological standoff between Washington and Beijing has taken an unexpected turn, despite the authorization for Chinese companies to buy Nvidia’s H200 chips.
- The mistrust and restrictions of the two superpowers have caused a commercial blockage which directly affects Nvidia, whose market share in China is collapsing in the face of the rise of local competitors.
China hesitates to buy Nvidia’s H200 chips
Trade tensions between the two superpowers continue to disrupt the semiconductor sector. And Nvidia’s economy is directly paying the price. The American giant is trying to sell its H200 chips to major Chinese players in artificial intelligence, but the restrictions imposed by Washington and the distrust of Beijing seize commercial mechanics.
However, the United States Department of Commerce gave his green light to around ten Chinese companies, including Alibaba and Tencent. Each approved customer is entitled to acquire up to 75,000 chips, but no order n’a été honorée à ce jour selon la presse US.
The pressure from the Chinese government on its own champions largely explains this blockage. Beijing fears that an influx of American silicon will weaken its own efforts to build a national AI industry, a strategic axis hammered out for several years by Xi Jinping.
Economy: the standoff continues between the USA and China
The technological standoff between Washington and China takes an unexpected turn. While Donald Trump is seeking common ground with Xi Jinping and the United States ended up authorizing around ten Chinese companies to obtain H200 chips from Nvidia, not a single copy has yet crossed the Pacific. Jensen Huang, boss of the American manufacturer, sees his Chinese order book rester désespérément vide.
The United States also imposes strict conditions to Chinese buyers. The latter must prove that the chips will not be diverted for military purposes. An agreement negotiated by Donald Trump also provides that 25% of the revenues from these sales return to the American federal coffers.
A clause that made Beijing jump! China now fears that control mechanisms or vulnerabilities could be intégrés au matériel américain. Nvidia thus finds itself caught between the two powers. Before the tightening of American restrictions, the manufacturer commanded nearly 95% of the Chinese market for advanced AI chips.
Its share is declining sharply, to the benefit of Huawei and its local rivals like Cambricon, which are accelerating the development of national alternatives. Jensen Huang is banking on direct diplomacy between Trump and Xi to resolve the situation. In the meantime, each month without a Chinese order widens the shortfall a little more for Nvidia, whose Chinese competitors take advantage of nibbling on the abandoned land.
