Nvidia boss Jensen Huang said on Tuesday that the AI technology powerhouse is resuming production of its high-performance chips for customers in China.
“We have received purchase orders from many customers and are in the process of restarting our production,” Huang told reporters at Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, California.
“Our supply chain is on fire.”
The situation has changed from two weeks ago, according to Huang.
A US trade official said in late February that a high-end Nvidia chip that can train and run artificial intelligence systems has not yet been sold to Chinese companies despite relaxed export restrictions.
The H200 chip was until recently banned from sale in China by Washington over national security concerns.
President Donald Trump said in December that he had reached an agreement with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to ease restrictionsa move some lawmakers have warned could help China’s military.
When asked by the House Foreign Affairs Committee how many H200 chips had been sold to Chinese end users, Commerce Department export enforcement official David Peters said, “My understanding is that none have been sold so far.”
The H200 deal – under which the US government takes a 25 percent cut of sales – was confirmed by the Commerce Department in January.
But the conditions imposed on their sale are said to have made it difficult to approve shipments.
“I think President Trump would like us to compete around the world and not give up those markets unnecessarily,” Huang said.
Beijing is ramping up domestic chip development and production in a bid to rival industry-leading designs from California-based Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company.
Nvidia’s higher-end Blackwell chips and the upcoming Rubin series remain banned for sale in China and are not included in the H200 deal.
When asked about Nvidia’s dependence on Taiwan-based chipmaker TSMC and the potential for China to “act” there, Huang said “my only hope is that we can all work together, stay in peace and see the big picture.”
Huang said the US commerce secretary’s goal of producing 40 percent of US chips domestically will be “very challenging” to achieve, given how fast demand is growing.
