China's Cyberspace Administration (CAC) issued a strict directive on September 17, 2025, ordering ByteDance and Alibaba to immediately terminate testing and cancel all existing orders for Nvidia's RTX Pro 6000D chips. Prior to the regulatory decision, several companies had indicated plans to order tens of thousands of these chips. The measure is part of Beijing's comprehensive strategy to transition the technology sector toward domestic chip production, further complicating Nvidia's position, whose shares fell 2.6% following the announcement.
The Chinese decision represents a particularly sensitive blow to Nvidia, the $4.2 trillion chipmaking giant, as the Chinese market accounted for 13% of the company's total sales in 2024. CEO Jensen Huang expressed his disappointment at a press conference in London, stating that they can only be in service of a market if a country wants them to be. The current ban is more stringent than previous restrictions that primarily targeted H20 chips and is especially contradictory given that the Trump administration reached an agreement with Nvidia in August granting export licenses for H20 chips in exchange for 15% of Chinese sales, though no such shipments have materialized to date.
The CAC's action is part of escalating technological independence efforts aiming to transition the industry toward domestically developed chips from Huawei Technologies and Cambricon Technologies. Amid rising US-China tensions, Nvidia has significantly increased its lobbying expenditures, spending nearly $1.9 million in the first half of 2025 compared to $640,000 for the entire year of 2024, while hiring three new external firms with 21 lobbyists. During his visit to Britain, where Nvidia announced an £11 billion investment in UK AI infrastructure, Huang emphasized that they will continue to be supportive of the Chinese government and Chinese companies as they wish. Meanwhile technological tensions further intensified ahead of the scheduled Trump-Xi phone call on September 18, 2025.
Sources:
Ryan Browne
