China’s recent decisions to prohibit domestic technology giants from purchasing Nvidia’s AI chips, specifically the H20 and RTX Pro 6000D, as part of a broader regulatory and strategic maneuver. According to CNBC, “Beijing has reportedly halted purchases of yet another AI chip from Nvidia, freezing it out of the market completely — a move industry experts say reflects the country’s growing confidence in domestic chip makers and an attempt at gaining trade leverage.”
The background presented details how Nvidia, after being optimistic about renewed access to the Chinese market earlier in the year, swiftly faced renewed regulatory pressure as China launched a national security review and accused the company of anti-monopoly violations. “Now that the mandate has been expanded to Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D chip, rendering the company unable to sell any products to Chinese customers”.
However, analysts remain skeptical about how quickly China can truly replace Nvidia’s products. “In terms of China’s domestic chip preparedness, I believe it is misleading to suggest the country can advance AI at a current level solely with domestic alternatives and without NVIDIA’s systematic offerings,” says Ray Wang of Futurum Group.
China’s ban is “likely to be a negotiation tactic as part of a broader set of discussions involving other topics including tariffs.”
Reference
CNBC. (2025, September 18). Cold shoulder: Why Beijing is freezing Nvidia’s access to the Chinese market. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/18/china-blocks-nvidia-ai-chips.htmlhttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/18/china-blocks-nvidia-ai-chips.html