The clearances broaden the list of Chinese companies allowed to buy Nvidia H200 and some rival AMD chips as export controls remain a flashpoint in the U.S.-China tech dispute.
A ZTE Corp unit, server maker Maginfra and a Kingsoft subsidiary are among the latest Chinese entities cleared by the United States to obtain advanced AI chips from Nvidia and AMD. Documents and two sources familiar with the matter show ZTE Kangxun Telecom and Maginfra were permitted to buy Nvidia's H200, while Zhuhai Hengqin Yunxiang Zhisheng Network Technology was cleared to use some AMD chips that compete with the H200. The approvals widen the known pool of Chinese companies in the U.S. licensing process beyond the country's largest internet platforms and major electronics distributors. Reuters had reported in May that about 10 Chinese firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com, had been cleared to buy Nvidia chips, though no deliveries had been made at that time because the transactions still faced review and scrutiny in both Washington and Beijing. U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Kessler said on July 14 that shipments of H200 chips to China and Hong Kong had already begun, though in "very small" quantities. Some Chinese cloud firms have since told partners and clients they may soon be able to secure H200 chips, suggesting progress in Chinese import reviews. The issue sits at the center of a broader U.S.-China technology contest: Washington has tightened export controls since 2022, saying advanced AI semiconductors could aid the PRC's military modernisation, while China has promoted domestic substitutes such as Huawei's Ascend chips, leaving uncertainty over whether licensed U.S. chip sales will ultimately go ahead.