A top U.S. trade official confirmed Tuesday that Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) has officially begun shipping its powerful H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, according to a report, signaling a resumption of advanced hardware exports under strict case-by-case government licenses.
Minimal Volume Reaches Chinese Tech Giants
Speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Jeffrey Kessler, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, stated that early volumes remain heavily restricted, according to a Reuters report. "There have been minimal exports of any H200s to China so far," Kessler testified, describing the initial deliveries as “very few”.
Despite the tight restrictions, recent U.S. approvals have cleared around 10 Chinese firms to receive advanced AI hardware from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD).
Major tech conglomerates—including a unit of telecom equipment manufacturer ZTE Corp. (OTC:ZTCOF), alongside Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. ADR (NYSE:BABA), Tencent Holdings Ltd. (OTC:TCEHY), and ByteDance—are among the entities cleared to purchase the chips. Kessler emphasized that applicants must satisfy rigorous national security benchmarks and submit to inspections to guarantee compliance.
Political Clash Over Export Control Loopholes
The low-volume shipments have sparked a sharp political divide in Washington over the enforcement of technology blockades against Beijing.
Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on the committee, accused the administration of weakening safeguards by approving advanced AI licenses, claiming export controls are being used as “a bargaining chip in broader negotiations with China.”
Meanwhile, Republican Representative Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) blasted the Commerce Department over potential regulatory loopholes allowing Chinese subsidiaries overseas to bypass restrictions and retain sophisticated Nvidia Blackwell chips.
Market Surge and Technical Outlook
The regulatory developments coincide with a bullish updated outlook from KeyBanc, which maintained its “Overweight” rating on Nvidia and raised its price target to $330.00 from $310.00 against a current price of $203.53.
KeyBanc analyst John Vinh described the company’s supply landscape as “mixed but mostly positive.”
While Asia field checks reveal that the upcoming Vera Rubin chip architecture faces slight production delays due to thermal heat lid issues and HBM4 qualification delays with SK Hynix Inc. ADR (NASDAQ:SKHY), KeyBanc foresees “minimal risk to estimates.”.
To mitigate the delay, Nvidia is expected to ship more B300 GPUs in place of its R200 models, buoyed by robust global demand.
How Has NVDA Performed in 2016?
NVDA shares were up 13.57% year-to-date, 3.22% over the last month, and 29.09% over the year. It closed 4.06% higher at $211.80 per share on Tuesday, and it was down by 0,32% in the premarket on Wednesday.
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that NVDA maintains a weak price trend in the short term but a strong trend in the long and medium terms, with a solid growth score.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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