Nvidia’s AI chips are no longer welcome in China

Alibaba, ByteDance, and other Chinese technology companies are barred from purchasing Nvidia’s latest AI chips custom-made for China, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. The Cyberspace Administration of China banned buying and testing the RTX Pro 6000D chips, despite companies having ordered thousands of the chips in the months since their introduction in July, according to three unnamed people with knowledge of the matter and who spoke to the FT.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he was “disappointed” by news of the ban during a press conference with reporters in London, where he is set to join President Donald Trump at a state dinner on Wednesday night. In August, Nvidia worked with Trump to broker a deal allowing the sale of H20 chips to China in return for a 15 percent cut of the profit.

“We probably contributed more to the China market than most countries have. And I’m disappointed with what I see,” Huang said to reporters during the press conference. “But they have larger agendas to work out between China and the United States, and I’m understanding of that.”

“They have no regard whatsoever for U.S. trademark law or any of the other provisions that make for fair trade agreements,” Johnson said. “It is not the fault of the United States that there are these strained relations. It is the fault of China.”

China has been making moves to build up its own chip manufacturing capability after years of tit-for-tat export controls by the US to limit the sale of AI chips to China, and China limiting the sale of chip materials to the US. China has been using less powerful chips tailor-made for the country by Nvidia.