Nvidia ‘disappointed’ as China business falls flat amid geopolitical turmoil

Posted By: EN Todayon: November 20, 2025In: General Energy News, Oil & Gas News

Nvidia’s (NVDA) China business faltered in the AI chipmaker’s third quarter as a trade war with the US rolled on.

Nvidia recorded just $50 million in sales of its H20 chips — less powerful versions of its Hopper GPUs designed for the China market to comply with tightening US export controls — during the three months through Oct. 26.

“Sizable purchase orders never materialized in the quarter due to geopolitical issues and the increasingly competitive market in China,” said Nvidia CFO Colette Kress during a call with analysts following the release of the company’s otherwise stellar quarterly earnings results.

Overall, Nvidia’s revenue from China was $2.8 billion, or 5% of its overall sales for the quarter — far lower than the $8.4 billion projected by Wall Street analysts, according to Bloomberg data. Meanwhile, the AI giant saw $39.2 billion in revenue from the US and $13.8 billion from Taiwan.

In Nvidia’s previous fiscal year, the company’s China business accounted for 13% of its overall revenue.

“While we were disappointed in the current state that prevents us from shipping more competitive data center compute products to China, we are committed to continued engagement with the US and China governments, and will continue to advocate for America’s ability to compete around the world,” Kress said.

Nvidia was effectively banned from selling its H20 chips to China in April in an unexpected move from the Trump administration that sent shares tumbling and cost the firm $2.5 billion in lost revenue during its first quarter. After aggressive efforts by CEO Jensen Huang to win over the White House, President Trump, in August, agreed to grant the chipmaker export licenses for the chips in an unprecedented deal that would require Nvidia to share 15% of its China revenues. But by then, more problems piled on — this time from China, as regulators in the country banned its own tech firms from buying H20 chips.

At the same time, Nvidia’s Chinese rivals such as Huawei and Alibaba (BABA) have introduced new AI chips to challenge the American tech giant’s dominance.

The US stoked a trade war with China earlier this year by enacting tariffs in excess of 130% on imports from the country in April, starting a tit-for-tat exchange that’s still ongoing. Nvidia has featured in high-stakes trade talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Ahead of the latest discussions, Trump said he would likely discuss Nvidia’s Blackwell chips with Xi, but later walked back that commentary, dispelling hopes for Nvidia to sell a version of its Blackwell GPUs to China.

Nvidia’s Huang has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Chinese AI market, which he says represents a $50 billion opportunity.

“To establish a sustainable leadership position in AI computing, America must win the support of every developer and be the platform of choice for every commercial business, including those in China,” Kress said Wednesday.

In the meantime, Nvidia has expanded its grip in other countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea as the market for “sovereign AI” grows. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the US has approved a deal that would allow Nvidia to sell up to 35,000 of its advanced GB300 AI servers to the UAE.