Catenaa, Wednesday, November 26, 2025- Chinese regulators have barred TikTok-owner ByteDance from deploying Nvidia chips in new data centers, The Information reported on Wednesday.
The report said that ByteDance bought more Nvidia chips than any other Chinese firm in 2025 as it raced to secure computing power for its billion-plus users amid concerns Washington could curb supply.
The reported ban underscores Beijing’s efforts to reduce reliance on US technology, a campaign that has intensified as Washington tightens curbs on exports of advanced semiconductors to China.
In August, Chinese regulators asked local firms to halt new orders of Nvidia AI chips and have since pushed companies to adopt homegrown processors, Bloomberg reported.
“The regulatory landscape does not allow us to offer a competitive data center GPU in China, leaving that massive market to our rapidly growing foreign competitors,” a Nvidia spokesperson told Reuters.
Reuters reported earlier this month that the Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data centre projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically-made artificial intelligence chips.
China is accelerating plans to build an alternative AI ecosystem and achieve chip self-sufficiency, even as trade tensions with Washington remain in a fragile pause.
Washington has barred sales of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China, allowing only scaled-down versions such as the H20. Nvidia had introduced a China-specific chip, the RTX6000D, but demand has been tepid, with some major tech firms opting not to place orders.
US President Donald Trump said earlier this month, following talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, that Washington will “let them deal with Nvidia but not in terms of the most advanced” chips.
Nvidia stock rose by over 1.5% on Wednesday and is still down by 3% since October 26.
