Nvidia stock rose on Monday after a media report said the artificial intelligence chipmaker plans to begin shipping its H200 processors to China in mid-February, potentially reopening a key market that has been largely closed to the company under US export controls.
Nvidia stock advanced 1% to 182.87 in morning trading, outperforming the broader market as investors reacted to signs of easing restrictions on advanced AI chip exports.
What’s driving the rally in Nvidia stock today
According to a report from Reuters, Nvidia plans to fulfil initial Chinese orders using existing inventory, with shipments expected to total between 5,000 and 10,000 systems.
That would translate to roughly 40,000 to 80,000 H200 AI chips, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Nvidia has also told Chinese clients that it intends to add new production capacity for the H200, with orders for that additional capacity expected to open in the second quarter of 2026, the report added.
While the company has not publicly confirmed the timeline, the prospect of renewed shipments was enough to lift investor sentiment around the stock.
If completed, the deliveries would mark the first shipments of H200 chips to China after US President Donald Trump signaled earlier this month that Washington would allow such exports, subject to a 25% fee on sales.
The move represents a significant policy shift from the previous administration, which had banned sales of advanced AI chips to China on national security grounds.
Regulatory uncertainty in China remains
Despite the apparent green light from Washington, Chinese authorities have yet to formally approve imports of the US-designed chips.
Media reports previously suggested that Chinese officials held emergency meetings earlier this month to discuss whether to permit the shipments.
One proposal under consideration would require each H200 purchase to be bundled with a set ratio of domestically produced chips, reflecting Beijing’s ongoing push to strengthen its local semiconductor industry.
Chinese policymakers are weighing the risk that allowing high-performance Nvidia chips could slow progress among domestic chipmakers, which have so far struggled to match the H200’s capabilities.
The H200 belongs to Nvidia’s Hopper generation and has been superseded by the company’s newer Blackwell architecture, with the Rubin line also in development.
Even so, the H200 remains widely used in artificial intelligence workloads, particularly in large-scale model training and inference.
Nvidia has prioritised production of its newer chips, making H200 supply relatively scarce.
That dynamic has only heightened interest from Chinese buyers seeking higher-performance hardware as domestic alternatives continue to lag.
AI trade and market context
Artificial intelligence has been a defining theme for equity markets this year, with demand for AI hardware, software and infrastructure driving outsized gains in technology stocks.
Nvidia has emerged as the emblematic winner of that trend, extending a multiyear rally in 2025 and briefly becoming the most valuable publicly traded company.
The stock is up roughly one-third this year, an unusually strong performance for a company with a multitrillion-dollar market capitalisation.
More recently, however, markets have entered a seasonal lull. The S&P 500 has struggled to gain traction in December, historically one of the strongest months for equities.
With few near-term macroeconomic catalysts expected until January, some investors see the potential for a year-end rally led by familiar winners such as Nvidia.
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