Nvidia Secures US Export License for H200 AI Chips to China Market

On February 26, 2026, Nvidia Corp. officially announced that it has received authorization from the United States government to resume limited exports of its sophisticated H200 artificial intelligence processors to specific clients within the People’s Republic of China. This regulatory breakthrough follows a high-level diplomatic consensus reached in December 2025 between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The agreement was designed to partially roll back the stringent export restrictions that had been progressively tightened by the Joe Biden administration starting in 2022.

Despite the formal granting of these licenses, the path to actual delivery remains fraught with significant regulatory hurdles imposed by Washington. Under the current framework, all chips destined for the Chinese market must undergo a mandatory pre-sale inspection on American soil. Furthermore, a 25-percent tariff will be applied should these units ever be returned to the United States. During an earnings call on February 25, 2026, Nvidia’s Chief Financial Officer, Colette Kress, clarified that the company has not factored any potential revenue from Chinese data center sales into its outlook for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. This cautious stance highlights the difficulty of converting conditional approvals into tangible orders. Meanwhile, more advanced hardware architectures, including the Blackwell and Rubin series, remain strictly prohibited for export to China.

The shift in policy began in January 2026, when the U.S. Department of Commerce revised its guidelines for H200 chips and other lower-performance models. The department moved away from a standard "presumption of denial" toward a more flexible "case-by-case comprehensive review" process. To qualify for these export licenses, manufacturers such as Nvidia and AMD must demonstrate that their shipments to China do not exceed 50% of the total volume supplied to their domestic U.S. customers. Additionally, exporters must prove that there is no shortage of these components within the American market. On the receiving end, Chinese purchasers are required to implement robust security protocols and provide guarantees that the technology will not be repurposed for military applications.

The stakes for this market opening are immense, with major Chinese technology conglomerates like Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance previously estimated to have a combined demand for as many as 2 billion processors. However, the situation is complicated by the enduring geopolitical competition in the semiconductor industry. In a reciprocal move intended to stabilize trade relations, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has temporarily suspended its export ban on critical raw materials, such as gallium and germanium, to the United States. This temporary reprieve is currently scheduled to remain in effect until November 2026 as both nations attempt to resolve broader trade disputes.

Financially, Nvidia continues to demonstrate exceptional growth, reporting record-breaking revenue of $68.1 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, representing a 73% increase over the previous year. The company's data center division was the primary driver of this success, contributing $62.3 billion to the total. CEO Jensen Huang has expressed a strong desire for the company to return to full-scale competition within the Chinese market. Looking ahead, Nvidia has projected its revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 to reach approximately $78 billion. This optimistic forecast reflects the company’s underlying business strength and confidence in its global trajectory, even as it navigates the complex regulatory environment surrounding H200 shipments to China.