Nvidia Stock Dips Despite Tech Rally, China News

Nvidia stock has had a bad November but it remains more than 30% up in 2025. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

Key Points

• Nvidia shares rose 0.4% Monday, potentially boosted by reports the White House may permit more chip sales to China.
• The Commerce Department is reviewing its policy on high-end chip sales, which could allow Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chip to China.
• Alibaba’s shares gained 4.6% after its Qwen AI chatbot app achieved over 10 million downloads, indicating strong consumer AI demand.

Nvidia stock was going nowhere fast Monday, despite developments in China that feel like they should send it higher.

Shares in Nvidia declined 0.5% to $177.82 in early trading on Monday, lagging the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 . That’s strange given the broad move higher in U.S. tech stocks and two pieces of news related to China should prompt investors bid up Nvidia shares, too.

Firstly, the White House is considering letting Nvidia sell more of its chips to China, according to two reports at the end of last week from Reuters and Bloomberg, both of which cited anonymous sources.

The Trump administration could allow Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chip to China, according to the reports, as the U.S. Department of Commerce reviews its policy banning such high-end chip sales to the country.

“The regulatory landscape does not allow us to offer a competitive datacenter GPU in China, leaving that massive market to our rapidly growing foreign competitors,” a Nvidia spokesperson told Barron’s in an emailed statement. The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A trade rift between Washington and Beijing has been a weight on Nvidia, a key global player in the provision of chips powering the AI boom, though there have recently been signs of easing tensions.

Also on the China front, Alibaba —the ecommerce giant that has increasingly pushed into the AI business—saw its shares jump on Monday amid a narrative that could also benefit Nvidia.

American Depositary Receipts, or ADRs, of Alibaba —essentially the company’s U.S.-listed stock—gained 4.6% early Monday. It followed news that the company’s Qwen AI chatbot app had racked up more than 10 million downloads in the first week since its public beta launch.

The app’s popularity may not just be good news for Alibaba but also the wider AI landscape, including Nvidia. One of the concerns amid talks of an AI stock bubble that could burst is the question of just how much consumer demand there is for AI applications. Qwen’s popularity suggests the sector still has room to run on the consumer front.

Write to editors@barrons.com