Nvidia has introduced strict payment terms for Chinese customers who want to purchase H200 AI chips. Full prepayment is mandatory, with no cancellation or refund option.
This is according to Reuters, based on sources. The American chip manufacturer has conditions under which Chinese customers must pay in full, with no option to cancel orders, request refunds, or change configurations after placing an order. In exceptional cases, customers can offer commercial insurance or collateral as an alternative to cash payment.
Previously, advance payment requirements also applied, but Chinese customers were sometimes given the option of making a down payment instead of paying in full. Nvidia has tightened the terms and conditions for the H200 due to uncertainty about approval by Chinese regulators.
Orders exceed available stock
Chinese technology companies have placed orders for more than 2 million H200 chips, priced at approximately $27,000 (€23,000) each. That exceeds the 700,000 chips Nvidia has available. ByteDance and Alibaba, among others, are interested in large orders.
The H200 delivers about six times the performance of the H20 chip that Nvidia designed specifically for the Chinese market. Chinese tech companies consider the H200 a significant upgrade over currently available chips. The chip contains 141GB of HBM3e memory with a bandwidth of 4.8 TB/s, which is significantly more than its predecessors.
China plans to approve some H200 imports this quarter. Chinese officials are preparing to allow purchases for select commercial applications but are excluding the military, sensitive government agencies, critical infrastructure, and state-owned enterprises due to security concerns.
The Biden administration had banned advanced AI chip exports to China, but President Trump reversed that policy last month. H200 sales are now permitted with a 25 percent fee to the U.S. government.