NVIDIA Stock Hits Record as CEO Calls Trump China Visit ‘Most Important in Human History’

NVIDIA stock reached a record $236.46 on Thursday after Washington cleared H200 chip sales to roughly 10 Chinese firms. CEO Jensen Huang described President Trump’s China summit as one of the most important in human history.

The Department of Commerce approval clears Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com to purchase NVIDIA’s flagship AI accelerator. Lenovo and Foxconn received approval as distributors. The decision unwinds curbs that closed off a market worth roughly $8 billion in annual sales.

Chip Ban Reversal Lands Top Chinese Buyers

The US Department of Commerce signed off on H200 purchases for around 10 Chinese companies, according to Reuters.

October 2023 export controls had effectively shut China out of NVIDIA’s most advanced inventory. The region historically generated nearly a quarter of the chipmaker’s revenue.

However, no physical deliveries have taken place because Beijing is still reviewing the transactions on its side.

The pace of Chinese regulatory clearance will determine how quickly the policy reversal converts into reported revenue.

NVIDIA Stock Lifts Market Cap Past $5.6 Trillion

NVIDIA’s market value reached $5.69 trillion, overtaking silver as the world’s second-largest asset by aggregate value.

The company now exceeds the gross domestic product of every nation except the United States and China. Alphabet sits less than 4% below the $5 trillion mark.

As of this writing, Nvidia’s NVDA stock was trading for $236.46, up by almost 5% since the Thursday session opened.

Meanwhile, shares climbed sharply on the Commerce ruling. Traders view 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.

Whether Beijing signs off on the first H200 shipments will dictate how quickly Washington’s reversal feeds NVIDIA’s data center sales.

The question now is whether AI hardware demand can keep widening the gap between technology valuations and physical commodities.