Nvidia Tightens Asian Sales, Uses Whitelist to Keep AI Chips Out of China
The United States is continuing to tighten export controls to prevent advanced AI chips from reaching China through third countries and cloud facilities. Against this backdrop, global AI chip leader Nvidia has faced regulatory pressure from government agencies including the U.S. Commerce Department, forcing it to strengthen supply-chain compliance reviews. The shift marks a move from passively following rules to actively preventing illegal transshipments. It is directly affecting Asia’s cloud-computing infrastructure landscape and forcing Nvidia to adjust its capacity allocation at TSMC to manage supply-chain risks.
Nvidia began applying whitelist reviews in Asia in July 2026, cutting its roster of AI chip buyers in markets including Singapore, Malaysia and Japan by more than 50%. To fully enforce U.S. Commerce Department rules, Nvidia has also dispatched auditors to inspect Asian data centers in person and prevent next-generation chips such as Blackwell from reaching shell companies. Businesses that fail the initial compliance review must address the deficiencies before reapplying.
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The history behind this eventU.S. Weighs Tighter AI Chip Export Curbs to China, Potential Caps on Nvidia and AMD Supplies
The U.S. government continues to use export controls to restrict China’s access to advanced AI chips, with a focus on Nvidia’s H200 and AMD’s MI325. Nvidia’s share of China’s AI GPU market has fallen to 55%, while Huawei has benefited from the shift toward domestic alternatives. The new restrictions could affect large-model training, data-center scale and the U.S.-China technology rivalry.
As of July 19, 2026, the latest proposal would reportedly allow 10 Chinese companies to buy Nvidia H200 chips but cap purchases at 75,000 units per company. AMD’s MI325 could also be covered. If implemented alongside global export-licensing controls, the two-pronged restrictions would significantly constrain Chinese technology giants’ ability to build ultra-large AI training clusters.
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