New York, January 23, 2026, 16:02 (EST) — After-hours
Nvidia (NVDA) shares climbed roughly 1.5% in regular trading Friday, closing at $187.53. Bloomberg News reported that Chinese regulators have instructed Alibaba and other major tech companies to start preparing orders for Nvidia’s H200 AI chips.
Why this matters now: investors are grappling with just how much Nvidia’s AI-chip sales can keep flowing into China before another sudden policy shift hits. Earlier this month, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security announced it would scrutinize export license requests for the H200 and comparable chips individually, tightening security measures.
Washington has officially approved China-bound sales of the H200, but under strict conditions like third-party testing and restrictions linked to U.S. customer supply, Reuters reported. Jay Goldberg, an equities analyst at Seaport Research, described the export rules as “a Band-Aid” and cautioned that enforcing them might be tricky. Reuters
Chinese regulators have given “in-principle” green lights to Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance, allowing them to proceed with the next steps in their purchase plans, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. Beijing is expected to push these companies to buy a portion of domestic chips as part of the approval process, although the exact quota remains unspecified. The Economic Times
Nvidia’s shares fluctuated from $186.82 to $189.60 on Friday, opening at $187.49, per Yahoo Finance data.
The broader market showed volatility. The S&P 500 closed unchanged at 6,915.16, while the Nasdaq inched up 0.27% to 23,498.53. The Dow dropped 0.58%, dragged down by Intel’s disappointing outlook, Reuters reported. Next week, all eyes will be on the Federal Reserve’s decision and a packed slate of tech earnings.
Chip peers showed a sharp divide. AMD climbed roughly 2.1%, but Intel dropped around 17.3%, highlighting how fast sentiment shifts on data-center demand and supply news.
China’s position keeps shifting. Suppliers for Nvidia halted production of certain H200 parts after Chinese customs stopped earlier shipments, a report revealed, fueling investor concerns over supply chain snags beyond just U.S. export controls.
But Beijing’s nod isn’t a guaranteed go-ahead. Investors must still weigh the risk of abrupt regulatory shifts on both sides of the Pacific. Reuters reported last week that Chinese customs officials were instructed to block H200 chips from entering China, underscoring the uncertainty as local competitors ramp up their own AI processors.
Traders are now turning their attention to potential formal approvals in China, as well as Nvidia’s upcoming earnings report. The chipmaker is set to release its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results on Feb. 25.
