Nvidia Tells Cloud Partners to Cap Chinese Customers at 49% of Business, Reports Say

The Information reported on November 3, citing three people familiar with the matter, that Nvidia had recently told some cloud customers to reduce their exposure to Chinese companies. Later the same day the Financial Times, citing five people with knowledge of the matter, put a number on it. According to the FT's account as summarised by Yahoo Finance, Nvidia wants its data centre and cloud partners to sell at least 51 per cent of their services to companies outside China, which caps Chinese customers at 49 per cent.

The reports did not include a comment from Nvidia, and the company has not publicly confirmed the figure.

How The Rule Works

According to the reports, Nvidia had no such limit before. Its sales force and regional teams passed the guidance on verbally rather than in writing. It applies to cloud clients worldwide, not only those in Asia, and covers new contracts only, so existing leases stay in place.

The Information said the guidance could close off a key channel for Chinese AI developers. Companies that cannot legally import Nvidia's most advanced chips under US export controls have instead rented capacity in data centres abroad, often in Southeast Asia, that are owned by non-Chinese operators.

Cloud operators are pushing back. A Singapore-based cloud group was reported as saying it is "difficult to find enough non-Chinese clients outside the US".

A Tightening Pattern

The guidance follows other steps by Nvidia this year to tighten control over where its hardware ends up. Earlier in 2026 it introduced a whitelist of companies that had passed stricter compliance checks, which reportedly more than halved the number of Asian customers allowed to buy its AI chips. After that, more Chinese firms turned to leasing computing power from clouds outside China, according to the Yahoo Finance report.

Enforcement pressure has also grown. In March, US prosecutors charged Super Micro co-founder Wally Liaw and two others over the alleged diversion of about $2.5 billion worth of servers containing Nvidia chips to China through a Southeast Asian front company.

The reports add to a busy week for the China AI compute question. The Financial Times also reported that Oracle had cancelled a $7 billion, five-year deal that would have given Tencent access to about 100,000 advanced AI chips in Oracle data centres in Southeast Asia, after US officials raised concerns.

What It Means for Nvidia

China has been shrinking as a share of Nvidia's sales. Revenue from customers headquartered in China and Hong Kong fell to $19.7 billion in the year to January 2026, from $25.0 billion a year earlier, according to the Yahoo Finance report. Investors will look for any comment on the policy when Nvidia reports third-quarter results on November 17.

Cloud operators and investors will want to know how the cap is measured and enforced, especially because it was passed on verbally. Many operators that buy large volumes of Nvidia hardware sell capacity to international customers. If the rule applies worldwide as described, their customer mix will now matter to their chip supplier as well as to regulators. That includes operators in the Gulf.