🇨🇳 BREAKING: China has conditionally approved its top AI startup DeepSeek to purchase Nvidia’s powerful H200 AI chips, but final regulatory conditions are still being finalized.
This comes as part of a broader policy shift where Chinese regulators — including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and Ministry of Commerce — have coordinated approvals for major firms like ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, and now DeepSeek to acquire top-end AI hardware as long as certain conditions are met.
Why this matters:
• The H200 is one of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips — critical for training next-gen models.
• China has long struggled to match U.S. AI hardware performance due to chip export restrictions; this approval signals a pragmatic pivot toward global competitiveness.
• Even after the U.S. approved Nvidia exports under strict terms, Beijing’s own clearance was needed before shipments could move.
• DeepSeek already made waves in the AI world with cost-efficient models that rival Western counterparts, so access to H200 chips could accelerate its next generation releases.
This isn’t a full green light — it’s conditional and still pending details — but it’s a clear sign that China is balancing AI ambition with cautious tech policy, trying to boost innovation without fully ceding control over strategic hardware access.
