NVIDIA Restarts H20 Exports to China... Tech Stock Rally Restarted?

NVIDIA surges 4.5% pre-market, NASDAQ index futures also rise

H20 orders from China's ByteDance, Tencent, etc., Hong Kong H-shares also climb

NVIDIA announced that it expects approval from the U.S. government to sell its lower-spec AI chip H20 in China, causing NVIDIA shares to surge over 4.5% to $171 in pre-market trading on the 15th (local time).

Thanks to the surge in NVIDIA, NASDAQ index futures, which are dominated by tech stocks, climbed 0.5%, and S&P 500 futures rose 0.29%, showing an upward trend for U.S. stock index futures overall. Alibaba's stock soared by up to 6% on the Hong Kong Exchange that day, and the Hang Seng Tech Index closed 1.6% higher.

For AMD, which like NVIDIA holds the MI308 AI accelerator chip with specs lowered for export to China, the U.S. government's approval for Chinese exports has not yet been confirmed. The market expects AMD's MI308 chip will also be allowed for export to China following NVIDIA; in pre-market trading that day, AMD's stock was also up 2.5%, trading at $150.

According to foreign media such as Bloomberg on the 15th (local time), NVIDIA submitted a request for export approval of its H20 AI accelerator to China late the previous day via its blog, and a government official stated that it would be approved. H20 is a graphics processing unit (GPU) that NVIDIA downgraded from its previous Hopper platform to meet U.S. government restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. The Trump administration changed the export policy for the H20 to a permit system in April, effectively banning exports and resulting in contract cancellations and inventory burdens—causing $2.5 billion (₩3,450,000,000,000) in revenue loss in Q1 and an additional $8 billion (₩11,000,000,000,000) loss in Q2.

Reuters reported that with the resumption of H20 chip exports to China, Chinese tech companies such as ByteDance and Tencent are submitting purchase applications to the U.S.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang met with President Donald Trump last week, and, currently in China attending a government-sponsored conference, Jensen Huang appeared on China's CCTV after the announcement to confirm that approval for shipments to China had been obtained.

This move by the U.S. comes amid a thaw in U.S.-China relations with a trade truce agreement between Washington and Beijing. After concluding talks with the Chinese side last week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said both President Trump and President Xi Jinping have a strong desire for a summit by the end of this year.

In recent weeks, the U.S. has lifted a series of export controls, including on chip design software. This was reciprocated by China agreeing to expand sales of rare earth minerals. The U.S. insisted that controls on the H20 chip were not subject to negotiation ahead of the talks.

This policy change by the U.S. government is a significant victory for Jensen Huang, who has long argued that U.S. semiconductor export restrictions to China have only helped NVIDIA's Chinese competitor, Huawei.

This development will be a major boost to the Chinese AI industry and technology platforms overall, such as DeepSeek, which has created a powerful AI model using the H20.

Following NVIDIA's announcement, NASDAQ futures surged and the Chinese stock market also responded positively. Alibaba, already one of NVIDIA's largest customers in China, saw its shares climb by up to 6% in Hong Kong on Tuesday. The Hang Seng Tech Index also rose 2.2%, and data center operators such as Beijing Sinnet Technology soared as much as 8.4%.

By Jung-A Kim, Contributing Reporter kja@hankyung.com