Jan 13 (Reuters) – China’s government told some technology companies this week that it would only approve purchases of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips under special circumstances, such as for university research, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the situation.
The move shows Beijing remains wary of fully reopening China’s market to Nvidia, whose semiconductors are critical for operating state-of-the-art artificial intelligence applications and data centers.
The report said the Chinese government issued an “intentionally vague” directive telling some technology companies to buy chips only when “necessary” but it was unclear what that meant.
The Information reported last week that China has asked some companies to halt orders for H200 chips as it looks to prioritize domestic companies in the race to dominate artificial intelligence.
Nvidia is caught in a dilemma between Washington and Beijing, with the United States considering tighter export controls on its most advanced technology and China pushing to strengthen domestic artificial intelligence capabilities and urging local companies to curb dependence on foreign technology.
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in an interview: “In principle, ensuring the smooth development of economic, trade and technological cooperation is in the common interests of both China and the United States.”
Nvidia did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The report said the Chinese government planned to hold additional meetings with more companies to convey procurement directives, but it was unclear whether those meetings would contain any new guidance.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)