Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources, that Nvidia is now asking Chinese customers to pay in full for the H200 AI chip upfront, even though approvals from the U.S. and Chinese governments remain unclear.
The report says chipmakers are left with no options for refunds or changes to orders.
Some customers may be allowed to use commercial insurance or asset collateral, but the terms are much stricter than Nvidia’s previous policy, which sometimes allowed partial deposits, Reuters reported.
Nvidia declined to comment.
According to Bloomberg, China is expected to allow Nvidia to sell the H200 chip domestically, but the Chinese government wants to prevent the chip from being used by its military, state-owned enterprises, and sensitive infrastructure concerns.
Despite the challenges, demand for Nvidia’s H200 remains strong, with the Chinese company reportedly ordering more than 2 million GPUs in 2026, and the chipmaker ramping up production.
Nvidia is trying to strike a careful balance between meeting strong demand for its chips while managing political risks in both the United States and China. U.S. chip makers suffered huge losses after the Trump administration said they needed a license to export H20 chips to China, forcing them to write down $5.5 billion worth of inventory.
tech crunch event
san francisco
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October 13-15, 2026
