Nvidia (NVDA) stock jumped as much as 4% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the AI chipmaker said it was applying to resume sales of its H20 GPUs in China following a US ban that cost the company billions in lost sales.
In a blog post late Monday night, Nvidia said it was filing the application and the US government “assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted.” The company said that it “hopes to start deliveries soon.”
Nvidia stock closed at a record high of $164.92 last week; shares early Tuesday were trading hands north of $171.
Nvidia has repeatedly introduced lower-power versions of its AI chips for the Chinese market to comply with tightening US export controls as the government looks to limit China’s ability to advance AI technology, citing national security concerns.
The company began sales of its H20 GPUs (graphics processing units) — a less powerful version of its prior generation Hopper chips — to China in 2024.
The Trump administration in April implemented a ban on sales of its H20 AI chips for China, a surprise that immediately sent the stock spiraling. The move cost the company $2.5 billion in lost sales in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year (ended April 27), and Nvidia projected an additional $8 billion loss in the second quarter.
CEO Jensen Huang previously said that Nvidia can’t make another Hopper AI chip like H20 for China under the current restrictions and called the new US ban “deeply painful.” China is one of Nvidia’s biggest markets, accounting for roughly 13% of its 2025 revenue.
Huang met with President Trump at the White House last week before heading to China, where he’s set to hold a media briefing on Wednesday during his second visit to Beijing this year.
Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said that it “seems unlikely” the company will be able to ship many of its H20 chips in its second quarter which ends in two weeks, but it could see a “substantial catch-up” in the second half of the year if sale resume.
Rasgon projected that Nvidia would see $0.40-$0.50 added to its per-share earnings of 2026 if the chipmaker is able to rake in $15 billion-$20 billion in revenue from China in the second half of the year.
Nvidia stock has risen to new record highs over the past month in a sharp turnaround from the first half of the year, pushing the company’s market cap above the $4 trillion mark to become the world’s most valuable company in history.
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at laura.bratton@yahooinc.com.
