Chinese technology firms, including Alibaba and ByteDance, have been prohibited from acquiring Nvidia’s latest AI chips designed for the Chinese market, according to a report by the Financial Times on Wednesday. The Cyberspace Administration of China imposed a ban on purchasing and testing the RTX Pro 6000D chips, despite many companies having placed orders for thousands of these chips since their launch in July, as revealed by three anonymous sources familiar with the situation.
Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, expressed his disappointment regarding the ban during a press briefing in London, where he was scheduled to attend a state dinner with President Donald Trump later that evening. In a previous deal brokered by Nvidia in August, the company secured permission for the sale of H20 chips to China in exchange for a percentage of the profits.
“We have likely contributed more to the China market than many other countries. It’s disappointing to see this,” Huang remarked to reporters. He added, “However, I understand that there are larger considerations in play between China and the United States.”
During an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson voiced stronger concerns, stating that China is positioning itself as a “peer-to-peer adversary” to the U.S.
In his comments, Johnson emphasized, “China shows no respect for U.S. trademark law or any principles necessary for fair trade. The tensions are not the responsibility of the United States; they lie with China.”
In an effort to enhance its self-sufficiency in chip manufacturing, China has taken steps to strengthen its domestic capabilities over the past few years, particularly in response to U.S. export controls targeting AI chips. Additionally, China has restricted the export of certain chip materials to the United States. For now, Chinese companies are using less powerful, country-specific chips produced by Nvidia.
