Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that, Chinese officials have notified China’s largest tech companies, including Alibaba, that they can prepare to order Nvidia’s H200 AI chips. This move suggests that China is close to approving the import of this key component needed for artificial intelligence.
Chinese regulators have recently given, in principle, approval for Alibaba, Tencent Holdings, and ByteDance to proceed to the next stage of procurement preparations. Sources familiar with the matter said the companies can now discuss specific details, such as the required purchase quantities. China will also encourage these companies to purchase a certain number of domestically produced AI chips as a condition for obtaining approval. The Chinese government appears to be prioritizing the needs of major Chinese hyperscale cloud service providers such as Alibaba and Tencent.
This is a major victory for Nvidia. CEO Jensen Huang has stated that the AI chip sector alone could generate US$50 billion in revenue over the next few years.
Representatives for Nvidia declined to comment, while China’s Ministry of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance also did not respond to requests for comment.
Source: Lianhe Zaobao, January 24, 2026
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/china/story20260124-8155995