NVIDIA H200 Chip Suddenly Faces "Prepayment" Threshold: Chinese Buyers Under Pressure, AI Chip Supply Chain Faces New Uncertainties

Amid the ongoing surge in global demand for artificial intelligence hardware, NVIDIA’s latest H200 AI chip faces new supply challenges due to export regulation uncertainties. Multiple sources report that NVIDIA has required Chinese buyers to make full prepayments for the H200 chips before shipment. This move is seen as a defensive measure to mitigate export approval risks and adds an element of uncertainty to the booming AI chip market.

The H200 is a high-end AI chip launched by NVIDIA for data centers and large model training, representing an upgrade from the H100. It offers significant improvements in memory bandwidth, inference efficiency, and large-scale AI computing capabilities. The chip primarily serves cloud service providers, AI startups, and research institutions, forming a critical hardware foundation for training and deploying advanced AI models, thus maintaining strong demand worldwide.

The core reason for requiring full prepayment is the uncertainty surrounding export approval. As AI hardware is incorporated into stricter regulatory frameworks, approval processes may experience delays or even be denied. NVIDIA aims to lock in funds in advance to reduce risks of inventory backlog and revenue loss caused by policy changes, while also prioritizing high-certainty orders in a market characterized by supply shortages.

For Chinese companies, this policy significantly raises procurement thresholds. Paying in full without a guaranteed delivery timeline not only increases cash flow pressure but also amplifies supply risks. This could lead some enterprises to delay AI infrastructure development or seek alternative AI chips, thereby affecting the deployment speed of high-end computing power in the Chinese market.

From a broader perspective, NVIDIA’s prepayment strategy reflects how geopolitical and regulatory factors are deeply impacting the global AI chip supply chain. If more chip manufacturers adopt similar practices, the international AI hardware market could face higher transaction costs and more complex procurement processes.

Overall, the prepayment event for the H200 chip is not just a supply issue for a single product but also a clear signal: as the AI industry rapidly expands, compliance risks and export policies have become critical variables that enterprises must carefully consider when acquiring advanced computing power.