NEW YORK, December 31, 2025, 06:53 ET — Premarket
- Nvidia shares edged lower in premarket trading after a report said the company is seeking more H200 chip output for China.
- Investors are weighing the revenue upside from China against export-licensing and import-approval uncertainty.
- Focus next turns to China policy signals and Nvidia’s Feb. 25 results for guidance.
Nvidia (NVDA.O) shares fell 0.3% to $187.54 in premarket trading on Wednesday after Reuters reported the company has approached Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co about expanding output of its H200 artificial intelligence chips to meet rising demand from Chinese customers.
The report matters now because it puts China demand back at the center of the Nvidia trade just as supply remains tight across AI hardware. At the reported pricing, the order pipeline would translate into roughly $54 billion in potential sales, assuming approvals and deliveries.
It also sharpens a familiar risk-reward for investors: China can move the revenue needle quickly, but policy decisions can change the addressable market overnight. Supply shifts for one region can ripple through deliveries elsewhere.
The H200 is a graphics processing unit, or GPU — a chip that speeds up the math used to train and run AI models. It sits on Nvidia’s older Hopper platform, while the company is pushing newer Blackwell systems and a next-generation Rubin line.
Separately, Reuters cited a South China Morning Post report that TikTok owner ByteDance plans to spend about 100 billion yuan ($14.29 billion) on Nvidia AI chips in 2026 if H200 sales into China are approved, adding another datapoint on demand. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report.
In the U.S., a filing showed Nvidia bought Intel shares worth $5 billion under an agreement announced in September, paying $23.28 per share in a private placement — a transaction that amounted to more than 214.7 million shares, Reuters reported.
Nvidia has also been in advanced talks to buy Israel-based AI startup AI21 Labs for $2 billion to $3 billion, Israel’s Calcalist reported, according to Reuters. Nvidia declined to comment, Reuters said.
Together, the Intel stake, the reported AI21 discussions and the China supply push underscore Nvidia’s widening playbook: lock down capacity, pursue talent, and keep the platform lead as customers and rivals look for alternatives.
Year-end positioning is adding another layer, with big tech seeing churn as portfolios rebalance into 2026. “The valuation gap is so wide,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide. Reuters
For traders, the near-term watchlist is straightforward: any further detail on how quickly Nvidia can secure additional H200 supply without squeezing deliveries of newer systems. Policy signals from Beijing on import approvals — and from Washington on export licenses and fees — remain the swing factor.
The next scheduled company catalyst is Nvidia’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Feb. 25, according to its investor-relations calendar. Investors will focus on guidance for data-center demand, gross margins and how management frames China in its outlook.
