Nvidia’s H200 Chip Sees Explosive China Demand - AI Hardware Frenzy Defies Geopolitical Tensions

Nvidia just dropped a bombshell—its latest H200 AI processors are flying off the shelves in China, demand surging despite the regulatory minefield. Forget the trade war chatter; the numbers tell a different story.

The Unstoppable Hardware Craze

Chinese tech giants and cloud providers are scrambling for these chips, hoarding compute power like digital gold. They're redesigning data centers, retooling server racks, and paying premiums to secure supply chains before the next export restriction drops. It's a high-stakes game of beat-the-clock, with billions in AI development hanging in the balance.

Silicon Sovereignty? Not So Fast

Local chipmakers are racing to catch up, but Nvidia's ecosystem—its software, its developer network, its raw performance—creates a gravitational pull that's tough to escape. For now, being second-best in AI hardware means being left behind entirely. Every delayed domestic alternative just fuels another H200 order.

The Finance Jab

Wall Street analysts are already modeling the revenue bump, because nothing says 'long-term strategy' like quarterly earnings calls. Meanwhile, procurement teams are building shadow inventories through third countries—because when the rules get fuzzy, the creative accounting gets brilliant.

Bottom line: Geopolitics writes the headlines, but silicon moves the world. And right now, Nvidia's moving it straight to the bank.

Nvidia reveals full AV stack, Vera Rubin system, and chip ecosystem at CES

At CES, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also introduced Alpamo, an AI that controls self-driving cars. It’s trained from end to end; meaning cameras to steering, braking, and acceleration. “It tells you what action it’s going to take, the reason behind it, and the path it’ll follow,” he said. The data comes from human drivers, simulations from Cosmos, and hundreds of thousands of labeled examples, according to Jensen.

This AI powers cars like the new Mercedes-Benz CLA, which he said was rated “the world’s safest” by NCAAP. Alpamo connects to a dual safety system, and if the main AI stack can’t handle a situation, a backup system kicks in.

Nvidia claims it’s the only car in the world running both AI and traditional AV Stacks at once.

Jensen also named the company’s new system Vera Rubin, already in production. It has 1,152 GPUs spread across 16 racks, each containing 72 Rubin modules. These modules LINK to Reuben GPUs and Vera CPUs; two huge chips mashed into one setup. Vera doubles performance per watt over earlier CPUs.

Bluefield 4, the new processor, is also baked into every unit. It slices data centers into chunks, so different users can share one space without stepping on each other. All of this is packaged under the MGX standard, made from 80,000 parts. Foxconn, Quanta, Wistron, HP, Dell, and Lenovo are all using it.

Despite doubling the power use, Vera Rubin’s cooling needs stay the same, as it still runs on 45°C water, with no chillers required. Even with the size boost, the whole platform runs on a new silicon photonics process developed with TSMC, delivering 512 ports at 200 gigabits per second, pushed right to the chip.

Sign up to Bybit and start trading with $30,050 in welcome gifts