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

Nvidia is now requiring its customers in China to pay in full upfront for their H200 AI chips, even as approval in the United States and from Beijing remains uncertain. Reuters reported thisciting anonymous sources.

The chipmaker leaves no room for refunds or changes to orders, the report said.

While some customers may be allowed to use commercial insurance or collateral, the terms are much stricter than Nvidia’s previous policy, which sometimes allowed partial deposits, Reuters reported.

Nvidia declined to comment.

China is expected to allow Nvidia to sell its H200 chips in the country. according to Bloombergalthough Beijing wants to prevent the chips from being used by the military, state-owned enterprises and sensitive infrastructure companies.

Despite the challenges, demand for Nvidia’s H200 remains strong, and Chinese companies have done so as well reportedly placed orders for more than 2 million GPUs in 2026, prompting the chipmaker to ramp up production.

Nvidia is trying to strike a careful balance between meeting strong demand for its chips and managing political risks in both the US and China. The US chipmaker suffered costly setbacks when the Trump administration said it would need a license to export its H20 chips to China, forcing the company to write down $5.5 billion worth of inventories.