NVIDIA: H20 Exports to China Now Require a License, With Up to $5.5 Billion in Expected Charges
NVIDIA Corporation, based in Santa Clara, Santa Clara County, California, disclosed in a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 15, 2025, that the U.S. government now requires a license to export its H20 integrated circuits to China, and that the company expects to record up to approximately $5.5 billion in related charges this quarter.
According to the filing, the U.S. government informed NVIDIA on April 9, 2025, that a license is required for export to China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and D:5 countries, or to companies headquartered or with an ultimate parent in those locations, of the company's H20 integrated circuits and any other circuits achieving the H20's memory bandwidth, interconnect bandwidth, or combination thereof. The government indicated the requirement addresses the risk that the covered products may be used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China.
On April 14, 2025, the government informed the company that the license requirement will be in effect for the indefinite future. The H20 was NVIDIA's high-performance computing and AI chip offered for the China market under the earlier export-control framework; the new requirement means shipments to China need case-by-case approval with no expiry date.
NVIDIA's first quarter of fiscal year 2026 ends on April 27, 2025. The company expects first-quarter results to include up to approximately $5.5 billion of charges associated with H20 products for inventory, purchase commitments, and related reserves. The filing adds the customary caution that its statements about the government's intentions and the financial impact are forward-looking and that actual results could differ materially.
The disclosure marked a notable step in the tightening of U.S. technology export controls in April 2025: the controls reach not only the H20 itself but any circuit matching its memory or interconnect bandwidth, closing off workarounds by redesign. For NVIDIA, whether and how many licenses are granted will decide the fate of the inventory and orders built up for the China market. (Source: NVIDIA Corporation)
Source: NVIDIA Corporation
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于圣克拉拉的英伟达总部 Endeavor 大楼入口（资料图）。图：Daniel J. Prostak，CC BY-SA 4.0，via Wikimedia Commons / Photo: The entrance of NVIDIA's Endeavor headquarters building in Santa Clara (file photo). Photo: Daniel J. Prostak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
