Nvidia will require Chinese customers purchasing H200 GPUs to provide full, upfront payment in order to secure the hardware.

According to a report from Reuters, customers will also have no option to cancel, ask for refunds, or change configurations after placement.

However, in special circumstances, customers will be able to provide commercial insurance or offer up assets as collateral in lieu of cash payments, the report stated, although the sources cited by the news outlet did not provide further information on what those circumstances might be. Previous Nvidia policy allowed Chinese buyers to put down a deposit for chips, rather than making a full payment upfront.

In December 2025, Reuters separately reported that technology companies in China had placed orders for more than two million H200 GPUs, a figure that exceeds Nvidia’s current available inventory of around 700,000.

At the time, Reuters said TSMC was expected to start producing additional H200s to meet the demand in Q2 2026, but earlier this week, The Information reported that the Chinese government has asked tech companies in the country to pause orders for the GPUs while regulators decide the ratio of Chinese-made chips to H200s customers must purchase.

Speaking on Tuesday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company had “fired up our supply chain” to support customer demand for H200s, adding that for Chinese customers, “if the purchase orders come, it's because they're able to place purchase orders.”

During his keynote speech at CES this week, Huang also announced that Nvidia’s forthcoming Vera Rubin chips are also in full production at TSMC foundries.