New York, Jan 28, 2026, 17:43 (EST) — After-hours update
- NVDA ended Wednesday up roughly 1.6%, then held steady in after-hours trading
- China has given the green light for ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to acquire over 400,000 Nvidia H200 AI chips, according to sources familiar with the situation
- Washington’s focus on Nvidia’s connections in China has reemerged just as investors gear up for the company’s upcoming quarterly report
Nvidia shares climbed 1.6% to $191.52 on Wednesday and held steady in after-hours trading after sources said China approved ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to purchase over 400,000 of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips. The green light came during CEO Jensen Huang’s trip to China this week, the sources added. (Reuters)
The H200 — Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI chip — is at the heart of U.S.-China tech restrictions, making this decision crucial. Even a slight change in export rules could reshape investor expectations around short-term shipments.
The timing comes as investors grapple with defining “normal” demand for Nvidia following a year dominated by AI-driven investments from major tech and cloud players. Nvidia has set a conference call for Feb. 25 to review its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results. (NVIDIA Investor Relations)
Sources close to the China approvals say the green light comes with conditions still under discussion. One insider called the licences overly restrictive, noting that customers haven’t yet converted approvals into purchase orders.
In Washington, the political winds are shifting the other way. Representative John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, accused Nvidia in a letter of providing technical assistance to China’s DeepSeek that boosted training efficiency — citing “GPU hours,” or the time chips run to train AI models. Nvidia pushed back, saying it “makes no sense for the Chinese military to depend on American technology.” (Reuters)
Nvidia is doubling down on the AI data-center push linked to its chips. This week, it dropped $2 billion into CoreWeave, making it the AI infrastructure firm’s second-biggest shareholder. CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator confirmed strong demand for Nvidia’s computing platform across its clients. (Reuters)
China’s internet giants are pouring billions into data centers for AI services, despite Beijing’s push to favor domestic chips. Sources say Huawei’s products match Nvidia’s H20 chip in certain aspects, but the H200 remains well ahead.
The route from approvals to actual revenue isn’t straightforward. Stricter U.S. licensing rules, tougher Chinese demands like requiring imports to be bundled with domestic chips, or just limited H200 supply could delay shipments and keep demand stuck on paper.
Traders are eyeing the final terms tied to China imports and looking for clues that approvals are solidifying into confirmed orders. Nvidia’s earnings call on Feb. 25 is the next key event on the calendar.
