NVIDIA stock reached a record high of $236.46 on Thursday following the company's CEO Jensen Huang's remarks about President Trump's China summit. According to reports from Reuters, the surge came after the US Department of Commerce approved H200 chip sales to approximately 10 Chinese firms, including major tech companies Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and JD.com. The decision represents a significant policy reversal that had previously shut China out of NVIDIA's most advanced inventory. As of press time, NVIDIA stock is trading at $233.56, up almost 3.42% since Thursday's session opened, reflecting continued investor optimism about the policy change.
The Department of Commerce approval clears these Chinese companies to purchase NVIDIA's flagship AI accelerator, with Lenovo and Foxconn receiving approval as distributors. As reported by Reuters, this decision unwinds curbs that had closed off a market worth approximately $8 billion in annual sales. The October 2023 export controls had effectively shut China out of NVIDIA's most advanced inventory, with the region historically generating nearly a quarter of the chipmaker's revenue before the restrictions. Before US export curbs tightened, NVIDIA held about 95% of China's advanced chip market and China accounted for 13% of the company's revenue.
NVIDIA's market value reached $5.65 trillion, overtaking silver as the world's second-largest asset by aggregate value. According to reports from Reuters, the company now exceeds the gross domestic product of every nation except the United States and China. The broader tech rally pushed NVIDIA's valuation above the $5.65 trillion mark, with the company's market capitalization now surpassing the gross domestic product of every country except the United States and China. The stock climbed sharply on the Commerce ruling, with traders viewing Chinese demand as the missing piece in NVIDIA's data center expansion. The China market had peaked near $8 billion in annual revenue before the export controls cut it close to zero.
Despite the regulatory approval, no physical deliveries have taken place because Beijing is still reviewing the transactions on its side. As reported by Reuters, the pace of Chinese regulatory clearance will determine how quickly the policy reversal converts into reported revenue. CEO Jensen Huang has previously estimated that China's AI market alone would be worth $50 billion this year, describing President Trump's China summit as one of the most important in human history. The question now centers on whether AI hardware demand can continue to widen the gap between technology valuations and physical commodities in the global market, with the timing of first H200 shipments dependent on Beijing's review process.
