NVIDIA Reportedly Wants China To Pay 100% Upfront For Millions Of H200 AI Chips

After coming to a revised royalty rate agreement with the U.S. government, NVIDIA has orders from China for more than 2 million H200 AI chips at around $27,000 each, but will only ship the orders if they are paid in full upfront, Reuters reports. Citing two people who have purportedly been briefed on the matter, the outlet says NVIDIA's requirement is the result of the Chinese government having yet to fully approve the chip orders.

According to the report, NVIDIA also required prepayments from Chinese customers in the past, but had previously been willing to accept deposits instead of the full amount upfront. However, that's evidently not the case this time because of ambiguity in regards to China's regulatory approval of buying Hopper-based AI chips from NVIDIA.

This is the latest twist in the ongoing saga between NVIDIA and governments from both sides. Under the ...