Chinese companies including TikTok owner ByteDance, purchase $16B worth of NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs

Chinese AI companies have reportedly placed orders for a hefty $16 billion worth of NVIDIA's new H20 AI GPUs, according to a new report from The Information.

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In a world where US sanctions are meant to be stopping China from getting their hands on some of the most advanced AI chips made, Chinese tech companies like Baidu and TikTok parent company ByteDance, are speeding up their data center building and model training to keep up with the West.

This shouldn't come as a surprise at all, with recent stories -- in the links below -- had us reporting that NVIDIA could experience more Chinese GPU export restrictions from the Trump administration, as well as Chinese AI firm DeepSeek using 50,000 NVIDIA H100 AI GPUs, even with US restrictions in place. In 2024, we reported that the US government was asking NVIDIA how its advanced AI chips were getting into the hands of Chinese companies, which skirted US sanctions.

The Information is reporting that Chinese tech companies including ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent were all involved in "at least" $16 billion worth of orders for NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs in Q1 2025 alone.

• Read more: NVIDIA could experience more China GPU export restrictions
• Read more: Chinese AI firm DeepSeek has 50,000 NVIDIA H100 AI GPUs says CEO
• Read more: US government asks NVIDIA how its AI GPUs ended up in China, skirting US sanctions

China doesn't want to be left out of the future of AI and semiconductor dominance, but how much longer can these situations occur without President Trump coming in like a wrecking ball.