Exclusive: Trump Green Light Spurs ByteDance and Alibaba to Pursue Nvidia H200 Chips
Published: 11 Dec 2025
Author: Precedence Research
Leading tech giants Alibaba and ByteDance are eager to deal with NVIDIA for its H200 chips, after U.S. President Trump is set to lift tariffs on China and allow exports to the country. Also, Chinese companies are keen to place large orders for Nvidia's upcoming AI chips, provided Beijing allows them to do so. However, these companies are still baffled about supply and are seeking official statements from Nvidia.
Before these restrictions on trade with China, the most sophisticated AI semiconductor that could legally be exported to China was H20. Now that export restrictions have been lifted, Nvidia's H200 chips are 6 times as powerful as the H20. The Chinese government has not yet responded to Trump’s announcement about H200. However, according to sources, Chinese regulators held a meeting with representatives from companies like Tencent Holdings, ByteDance, and Alibaba and asked them about their expectations for H200 chips. And these representatives will inform Beijing of their decision very soon.
Chinese enterprises are expecting to leverage H200 by recognizing its unmatched ability to train Artificial Intelligence models, which are currently nowhere to be found in China or in their domestic equivalents. Furthermore, data center firms, elite Chinese universities, and entities affiliated with the Chinese military have also sought to buy H200 chips through all grey-market channels.
Previously, under the U.S. president's rule, any party supplying H200 chips to China would be in violation of federal law, preventing many companies from dealing with Chinese marketers. However, the policy reversal has now created confusion for both parties: older, less powerful AI chips still fall under the U.S. export category to China, but the H200 chip does not. However, Chinese companies are still hoping that authorities will review purchase requests and allow them to proceed.
Zhang Yunchun, general manager of Supercloud’s solutions and ecology units, said, "The training of leading Chinese AI models still relies on Nvidia cards. Expect the leading Chinese tech companies to buy a lot, although in a low-key manner.”