Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) faces a fresh constraint on its China business as a global shortage of advanced memory chips threatens to limit U.S. export licenses for its H200 AI processors, raising near-term risks to sales growth just as demand for AI hardware remains red-hot.
Tight supplies of advanced memory are likely to cap how many export licenses Nvidia can obtain to sell its H200 artificial intelligence processors to customers in China, according to Rep. John Moolenaar, the top Republican on the House China committee.
In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Moolenaar said shortages of DRAM, especially high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators, create an “immediate challenge” under the new licensing terms.
The rule requires exporters to certify that approved shipments to China will not trigger shortages in the U.S. market, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Nvidia Responds to Supply Concerns
Nvidia said it regularly manages its supply chain and can fulfill all approved H200 orders without hurting supply for other products or customers.
High-bandwidth memory, built from stacked DRAM, comes mainly from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (OTC:SSNLF), SK Hynix and Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), each of which has warned recently that supply remains limited as AI data center demand surges.
Samsung Pushes Through Sharp Memory Price Hikes
Samsung is using a global memory chip shortage to push through sharp price increases, tightening the squeeze on customers across the technology supply chain.
The South Korean chipmaker has raised prices on key memory products by as much as 60% since September, according to Reuters, as demand from artificial intelligence data centers triggers panic ordering and drains available supply.
The shortage, driven largely by AI servers that rely heavily on DRAM, NAND, and high-bandwidth memory, is forcing companies that are expanding AI infrastructure to absorb higher costs.
Those pressures could eventually filter down to consumer products such as smartphones and PCs, which also depend on the same components.
Profit Pressure Mounts for Device Makers
Investors now have to weigh whether device makers like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) can protect profits or will have to pass costs along and potentially hurt demand, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
“They’re in a tough position,” said Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, to Bloomberg. “They basically have two options: They can take a hit to margins, which the market won’t like. Or they can raise prices to offset the higher memory costs, running the risk of hurting demand.”
Rising memory costs have also weighed on chipmakers tied to smartphones, with recent downgrades citing the risk, including Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Arm Holdings Plc (NASDAQ:ARM).
Meanwhile, memory and storage suppliers have kept rallying into 2026. Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) has led the S&P 500 to start the year, up about 75%, and Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) and Micron have ranked among the index’s top performers, building on 2025 gains.
Photo by Saulo Ferreira Angelo via Shutterstock
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