Markets
markets

Commerce Department tweaks export rules, paving the way for Nvidia to ship H200s to China

US President Donald Trump’s call for Nvidia and its peers to be able to sell advanced AI chips to Chinese customers has evolved from the realm of social media posts to official policy paperwork.

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security revised its export license review policy for certain semiconductors, laying out what kinds of chips Nvidia and other semi companies will be allowed to ship to China and the terms of this arrangement.

For chips with a total processing power of less than 21,000 and a DRAM bandwidth of less than 6,500 gigabytes per second, a group which includes Nvidia’s H200 as well as AMD’s MI325X, “this final rule specifies certain conditions that, if satisfied, allow for license applicants to move from a presumption of denial to a case-by-case license review policy for exports from the United States destined to China or Macau.”

Two of the key stipulations include:

  • These products must be readily available in the US for those who want to buy them; and

  • Aggregate shipments of these chips to China and Macau can’t exceed 50% of their total end use by US customers.

H200s are the most advanced chips from the Hopper line, which was Nvidia’s leading offering prior to Blackwell.

While Trump’s Truth Social post on December 8 indicated that 25% of the proceeds from sales of these chips to China would go to the US government, there is no reference to such a provision in this particular document.

Chinese buyers have reportedly put in orders for more than 2 million H200s, making this a potential $54 billion sales channel for the world’s most valuable company.

However, the willingness of Chinese officials to allow that many processors to be imported at a time when they’re also focused on developing their domestic chip capabilities remains an open question.

More Markets

See all Markets
markets

Netflix reportedly considering making its $83 billion Warner Bros. offer all cash

Netflix is said to be considering making its $83 billion offer for the studio and streaming assets of Warner Bros. Discovery all cash, according to Bloomberg.

Shares of Netflix and WBD both climbed prior to market close on the report.

The news of Netflix’s potential change comes a day after Paramount Skydance announced it sued WBD for more information on its deal with Netflix.

Paramount has not improved its $30-per-share offer for Warner Bros., despite the latter’s board rejecting it twice.

The news of Netflix’s potential change comes a day after Paramount Skydance announced it sued WBD for more information on its deal with Netflix.

Paramount has not improved its $30-per-share offer for Warner Bros., despite the latter’s board rejecting it twice.

markets

Moderna rallies after projecting better-than-expected 2025 sales

Moderna rallied more than 15% on Tuesday after saying on Monday that its COVID-19 business did better than expected last year and it cut even more costs.

Moderna, which has been bleeding money since 2023, also said it expects to break even in 2028.

markets

Roblox surges as a new brainrot game climbs the engagement charts

A game that has players grab “brainrots” like “Aura Farma” and “Rainbow 67” and run away with Tsunamis is climbing the Roblox engagement charts and getting the attention of Wall Street analysts.

Morgan Stanley on Tuesday lowered its price target for Roblox from $170 to $155, but said that the platform’s risks are fully discounted and that it should continue to benefit from hit games. On Monday, BMO Capital directly cited the emergence of one such hit: “Escape Tsunami For Brainrots!”

That title, a top 5 experience on the gaming platform according to engagement tracking service RoMonitor, averaged more than 40 million visits from Saturday to Monday. Less than a month old, the game has landed just in time, emerging after analysts last month warned that 2025 viral hits like “Grow a Garden” and “Steal a Brainrot” (yes, it’s different) are past their peaks.

markets

Nvidia stock shrugs off report that Chinese customers will only be able to buy H200 AI chips “under special circumstances”

The Information is reporting that Chinese customers won’t be able to get their hands on as many Nvidia H200 AI chips as they want.

Per the outlet, the “Chinese government this week told some tech companies it would only approve their purchases of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips under special circumstances, such as for university research and development labs,” citing two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

On December 8, US President Donald Trump said Nvidia would be allowed to sell these chips, the most advanced in its Hopper generation, to China. This was shortly followed by a report from the Financial Times that Chinese regulators were “discussing ways to permit limited access to the H200,” as the world’s second-largest economy has been keen on boosting its domestic chip industry. Last week, Bloomberg reported that “Chinese officials are preparing to allow local companies to buy the component from Nvidia for select commercial use,” with imports beginning “as soon as this quarter.”

Call it information fatigue, because the market doesn’t seem to care about this latest report, with shares making fresh highs for the day not even 10 minutes after this news hit the wires. Or perhaps when it comes to AI development, it’s not hard to come up with “special circumstances” to justify access to powerful chips.

The report adds that Chinese officials have told companies to only buy these chips if “necessary” — without really defining what “necessary” means.

It’s not the first time traders shrugged off reporting from The Information on Nvidia. Shares finished up 1% on January 7, the day the outlet reported that Beijing was suspending purchases of the H200 pending a decision on what the import restrictions would be.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.