Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has informed its Chinese clients that it intends to start shipping its second-most powerful AI chips, the H200, to China before the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February 2026, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. chipmaker plans to fulfill initial orders using existing stock, with shipments expected to total between 5,000 to 10,000 chip modules, which is roughly equivalent to 40,000 to 80,000 H200 AI chips.
In addition to fulfilling initial orders, Nvidia has told Chinese clients that it plans to expand production capacity for the H200 chips, with orders for this new capacity expected to open in Q2 2026, according to one of the sources.
However, significant uncertainty remains, as Beijing has yet to approve any H200 purchases, and the timeline could be subject to change based on government decisions.
The decision to ship the H200 chips comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that Washington would allow such sales with a 25% fee, signaling a significant policy shift from the Biden administration, which had previously banned advanced AI chip sales to China due to national security concerns.
The H200 chips, part of Nvidia’s previous-generation Hopper line, are still widely used in AI applications, despite being superseded by Nvidia’s newer Blackwell chips.
Nvidia has largely focused production on Blackwell and its upcoming Rubin line, making H200 supply scarce.
Nevertheless, the H200 remains crucial for Chinese technology giants like Alibaba Group and ByteDance, who are interested in acquiring chips that are roughly six times more powerful than the H20, a downgraded chip Nvidia designed specifically for China.