Nvidia Clarifies Not Asking for Payment in Face for H200 Chip

Nvidia does not ask for an upfront payment for the purchase of H200 artificial intelligence chips (photo: dok.nvidia)

JAKARTA - Nvidia stated that it did not ask for an upfront payment for the purchase of H200 artificial intelligence chips despite earlier reports mentioning full payment terms at the beginning for buyers in China. This statement was confirmed by a company spokesperson, who said that Nvidia "would never ask customers to pay for products they have not received."

Previously, in early January it was reported that Nvidia was rumored to have imposed a full prepayment requirement without the option of cancellation, refund, or configuration changes after an order was made by a buyer in China, as a form of mitigation against the risk of uncertainty in export regulations and Chinese government approval.

Sources said that in standard practice for clients in China, Nvidia sometimes allows prepayment of deposits, not full payment, and reports on strict terms emerged due to concerns about the possibility of Chinese government approval of the shipment of the chips.

The Context of US-China Technology Tensions

This issue emerged amid ongoing tensions between the United States and China in terms of exports of advanced technology. The US government had previously relaxed the ban on exporting H200 chips to China through a policy that allows sales under certain conditions, including levies for the US government, but its decision and implementation still faces challenges and uncertainties.

In recent days, a number of reports have said that Chinese regulators have asked domestic companies to delay purchases of H200 chips while assessing purchase rules and the percentage of local chips that must be included, reflecting Beijing's caution about foreign technology dominance.

Nvidia's response also had a positive impact on market perceptions, with some investors seeing the clarification as a strong signal that the company was trying to ease concerns about H200 sales in the Chinese market.