China bans tech companies from buying Nvidia's AI chips

China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC) banned tech giants ByteDance and Alibaba from buying Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D AI chips, escalating efforts to strengthen domestic semiconductor production. The order halted testing and orders for thousands of chips, disrupting AI development supply chains. Nvidia’s shares fell over 2% post-announcement.

The ban extends beyond earlier H20 chip restrictions, signaling Beijing’s belief that Chinese chips now rival Nvidia’s. “The top-level consensus now is there’s going to be enough domestic supply,” an industry insider revealed. Regulators summoned Huawei, Cambricon, Alibaba, and Baidu to compare their chips against Nvidia’s, concluding domestic options meet or exceed performance.

“We can only be in service of a market if the country wants us to be,” said Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, in London, noting discussions with Trump amid U.S.-China tech tensions. The CAC’s push follows U.S. export controls under Biden, limiting Nvidia’s high-end chip sales to China.