Nvidia Forced To Adapt Groq Chip For China While Local AI Rivals Rise Fast

Towering stacks of semiconductor containers sit idle at Port of Long Beach as an LED billboard shows NVIDIA H200 chip exports dropping 13 percent, suggesting halted trade.

Nvidia’s H200 AI chips became a flashpoint in US-China relations. China once made 13% of Nvidia’s total revenue, but despite strong demand, Beijing kept hesitating to allow chip imports for months.

Chinese tech executives from ByteDance, Tencent, Alibaba and DeepSeek await approval as a government official holds document with red chop stamp for NVIDIA H200 chips.

In January, China granted preliminary approval to ByteDance, Tencent, Alibaba and AI startup DeepSeek to import H200 chips. But regulatory conditions for final approval were still being finalized at that point.

Manicured hands hold SEC document showing NVIDIA receives partial license to ship small amounts of H200 chips to specific China-based customers, government seal visible.

By February, the US also stepped in — granting Nvidia a license to ship “small amounts of H200 products to specific China-based customers,” as confirmed in a SEC filing by the company.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang in signature leather jacket addresses press conference as LED screen displays US and China flags with text reading Supply Chain Fired Up.

On March 17, CEO Jensen Huang confirmed Nvidia now holds clearance from both US and China. Purchase orders from “many” companies started flowing in. He declared, “Our supply chain is getting fired up.“

A Groq AI chip held in tweezers inside clean room with Chinese and American engineers in background as calendar shows May circled for launch preparation.

Nvidia is also preparing a Groq AI chip for China — designed for inference tasks like answering questions and writing code. It’s not a downgraded version. The chip is expected to be available by May.

Three competing booths at Shanghai AI Expo create triangular tension between NVIDIA, Baidu and DeepSeek with prohibition signs on Vera Rubin chip displays.

But the road ahead isn’t easy. In the inference market, Nvidia faces fierce competition. Chinese giants like Baidu already build their own chips. Vera Rubin chips, paired with Groq, cannot be sold to China.