TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Nvidia is discussing with TSMC plans to increase production of its H200 artificial intelligence chips to meet strong demand from Chinese technology firms, Reuters reported Wednesday.
The talks follow US approval in December for Nvidia to export H200 chips to China, although each sale carries a 25% fee. Meanwhile, Beijing has yet to approve shipments and continues to promote the development of domestic AI chip capability, according to Yahoo Finance.
Despite these uncertainties, Chinese companies reportedly placed orders exceeding two million H200 units for the year, while Nvidia currently holds only 700,000 in stock. Production of additional chips could begin as early as the second quarter, though exact quantities remain unclear.
Nvidia emphasized that authorized sales to China are not expected to disrupt US supply, noting that a full export ban would ultimately benefit China’s fast-growing AI chip market. Prices for the Chinese market are set at roughly NT$847,382 (US$27,000) per H200 chip.
TSMC declined to comment on the matter. China’s technology ministry did not respond to Reuters when asked to comment.
The H200, produced using TSMC’s 4-nm process, is a specialized graphics processing unit for AI workloads such as large-scale training and high-performance computing.
The potential expansion with TSMC comes as Nvidia focuses on newer chip lines, including the Blackwell and upcoming Rubin series. US restrictions continue to block exports of Blackwell processors to China.
