Nvidia’s reportedly asking Chinese customers to pay upfront for its H200 AI chips

City: Nvidia is now requiring its customers in China to pay upfront in full for its H200 AI chips. This is happening even though approvals from the U.S. and Beijing are still unclear. The company is not allowing any refunds or changes to orders, which is much stricter than its earlier policies. These earlier rules sometimes allowed for partial deposits.

Some customers might be able to use commercial insurance or asset collateral, but the new terms are much tougher. Nvidia has not commented on this change.

China is expected to allow Nvidia to sell its H200 chips in the country. However, Beijing wants to make sure these chips are not used by the military, state-owned companies, or for important infrastructure projects.

Despite these challenges, demand for Nvidia’s H200 is strong. Chinese companies are reported to have ordered over 2 million of these chips for the year 2026, which means Nvidia is ramping up production.

Nvidia is trying to meet the high demand for its chips while also handling political risks in the U.S. and China. The company faced issues when the Trump administration said it needed a license to sell its H200 chips to China, which forced Nvidia to write down $5.5 billion worth of inventory.