Nvidia Cuts Asia AI Chip Buyer List by Half as US Tightens China Export Controls

Nvidia has more than halved the number of Asian customers authorized to buy its artificial intelligence chips, according to a Financial Times report published on July 13, 2026. The company introduced a white list of buyers that must pass tougher compliance checks before they can purchase advanced GPUs. More than half of its previous customers, in particular neo-cloud providers, failed the initial review and were removed from the list, although they can reapply after changing their practices.

The tightening follows sustained pressure from Washington. In May 2026, the US Commerce Department issued guidance aimed at stopping advanced AI chips from reaching overseas subsidiaries of Chinese companies. Officials had raised concerns that Nvidia's Blackwell processors were reaching Chinese-linked entities through countries such as Malaysia despite existing restrictions. Nvidia has since stepped up due diligence in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, with staff now visiting customer data centres, verifying contracts and interviewing end users as part of the checks.

Southeast Asia had become a common transit route for restricted hardware heading into China. Nvidia has opened investigations into several regional distributors. The most prominent case involves Singapore-based Megaspeed, which is accused of moving banned Nvidia equipment between June 2024 and June 2025 and is linked to more than 2 billion dollars in potential orders.

The measures deepen a steep decline in Nvidia's China business. Its share of the Chinese AI GPU market, which stood near 66 percent in 2024, is projected to fall to roughly 8 percent by the end of 2026. Beijing has ordered state-funded data centres to rely only on domestic chips, and local suppliers led by Huawei are expected to capture around 80 percent of China's AI chip market. Chinese antitrust action against Nvidia has added further pressure.

Nvidia had developed lower-performance variants such as the H20 to stay within export thresholds while keeping access to Chinese buyers. In May 2026, the US approved about ten Chinese companies to buy the more advanced H200 chip, yet no shipments have been delivered so far because of regulatory obstacles on the Chinese side. Approved buyers reportedly include Alibaba and Tencent.

Nvidia designs these processors but does not manufacture them. The chips are fabricated by TSMC in Taiwan, mainly around Hsinchu, before being distributed worldwide. As of July 14, 2026, the crackdown remains active. If the approved H200 orders stay undelivered, the barrier between US chipmakers and Chinese buyers is likely to become structural rather than temporary, reshaping global AI hardware supply lines.