(Reuters) – China has given its top AI startup DeepSeek approval to buy Nvidia‘s (NVDA) H200 artificial intelligence chips with regulatory conditions that are still being finalised, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing sources, that ByteDance, Alibaba (BABA, 9988.HK) and Tencent (0700.HK, TCEHY) had been given permission to purchase more than 400,000 H200 chips in total.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told reporters in Taipei on Thursday that his company had not received such information. He added that he believed that China was still finalising the licence. Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment on DeepSeek’s approval.
China’s industry and commerce ministries have granted approvals for all four companies, but have stipulated that they will impose conditions that are still being finalised, the sources said. These conditions are being decided by China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), according to one of the people.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Commerce and NDRC did not answer requests for comment.
DeepSeek, which rattled the global tech sector early last year by rolling out AI models that cost a fraction of those being developed by U.S. rivals such as OpenAI (OPAI.PVT), did not answer a request for comment.
The H200, Nvidia’s second most powerful AI chip, has emerged as a major flashpoint in U.S.-China relations. Despite strong demand from Chinese firms and U.S. approval for exports, Beijing’s hesitation to allow imports has been the main barrier to shipments.
The U.S. earlier this month formally cleared the way for Nvidia to sell the H200 to China, where the company is seeing strong appetite. However, Chinese authorities have the final say on whether they would allow it to be shipped in.
Any purchases of H200 chips by DeepSeek could draw scrutiny by U.S lawmakers. Reuters reported on Wednesday that a senior U.S lawmaker had alleged that Nvidia had helped DeepSeek hone artificial intelligence models that were later used by the Chinese military, according to a letter sent to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
DeepSeek is expected to launch its next-generation AI model V4, featuring strong coding capabilities, in mid-February, The Information reported earlier this month.
(Reporting by Fanny Potkin; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
