Nvidia has denied any involvement in smuggling its artificial intelligence chips into China, despite at least $1 billion worth of its products entering the country illegally. The US chipmaker responded to reports that its unauthorized H200 chips are being sold on the black market and used in data centers.
In a statement, Nvidia said that data centers built with smuggled chips are not economically viable due to lack of service and support from authorized NVIDIA products. The company had previously faced restrictions on selling its H20 chips to China but has since reached a breakthrough with the Trump administration on regulations.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated last week that the company would resume selling its H200 chips to China soon. However, it appears that despite this, Chinese distributors have been secretly selling the chips to data center suppliers who cater to Chinese AI groups. The US and China have been competing to lead in artificial intelligence research, with China serving as a significant market for chipmakers.
The restriction on Nvidia’s H20 chips was put in place due to national security concerns, but the company is looking to expand its sales of more advanced chips to China.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/24/nvidia-ai-chips-smuggling-china-trump.html