China's share of Nvidia revenue is 8% amid widening export scrutiny

China- and Hong Kong-headquartered customers accounted for $7.88 billion of Nvidia's $96.22 billion revenue in the quarter ended July 26, 2026; China's share was 8.2%, versus 21.9% in the April 2025 quarter.

Nvidia reports China revenue by direct customers' headquarters, a basis adopted in the October 2025 quarter and applied retroactively; it reveals neither final destinations nor product mix.

On that basis, China revenue was $12.33 billion (20.2%) in FY2024, $25.05 billion (19.2%) in FY2025 and $19.68 billion (9.1%) in FY2026.

Quarterly China revenue, including Hong Kong, against Nvidia's total:

• April 2025 quarter: $9.659 billion of $44.062 billion — 21.9%.
• July 2025 quarter: $3.985 billion of $46.743 billion — 8.5%.
• October 2025 quarter: $2.973 billion of $57.006 billion — 5.2%.
• January 2026 quarter: $3.060 billion of $68.127 billion — 4.5%; MLQ.ai calculated this from full-year revenue minus nine-month revenue.
• April 2026 quarter: $4.550 billion of $81.615 billion — 5.6%.
• July 2026 quarter: $7.880 billion of $96.221 billion — 8.2%.

The July 2026 reading was nearly flat against 8.5% in July 2025, despite a sequential rebound from $3.06 billion in the January 2026 quarter.

The decline followed Washington's April 2025 requirement that Nvidia license the H20, designed to meet earlier export rules. Nvidia booked a $4.5 billion charge for excess H20 inventory and purchase commitments; August 2025 licenses produced only about $60 million of H20 revenue because Beijing restricted purchases.

Hopper data center shipments to China were $4.6 billion in the April 2025 quarter and zero in the same 2026 quarter. The rebound did not mark a data center return: licensed H200 shipments were under 1% of data center revenue, and Nvidia could not pass on a 25% tariff.

In its 10-Q, Nvidia said it was “effectively foreclosed from competing in China's data center computing/compute market.” It could still sell uncontrolled gaming and workstation GPUs, but the filing does not break out China revenue by product.

The accounting change reshapes the headline. Under the old billing basis, Nvidia reported $17.1 billion of FY2025 China revenue, or 13.1%, plus $23.7 billion billed to Singapore. On the headquarters basis, China became $25.05 billion, or 19.2%, and Singapore disappeared.

Nvidia called Singapore mostly an invoicing hub, with products “almost always shipped elsewhere.” Neither method identifies the end customer. Nvidia estimates 76% of FY2026 data center revenue booked to Taiwan-headquartered customers went to US and European end customers.

A server sold to a Singapore or Malaysian cloud operator and rented to a Chinese AI laboratory therefore counts outside China. This gap now sits beside a scandal involving Jensen Huang, who resigned as chief executive on Nov. 12.

SemiAnalysis said on Nov. 12 that its model tracked more than 1.5 gigawatts of export-restricted Nvidia chips that shouldn't be in China; it gave no unit count, and Nvidia has not responded.

Bloomberg reported Nvidia servers needing US export licenses installed at a Shanghai data center tied to Megaspeed, where Alice Huang worked, with some of the servers first sold to another Singapore partner.

Reuters identified more than 23 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) of Chinese AI data center projects and equipment deals built around H100, H200 and H800 chips, without establishing how the hardware arrived.

The Information reported that Huang's ties to Alice Huang, whom US officials suspect of working for Chinese intelligence, helped move more than $7 billion of Nvidia chips to Chinese companies; Reuters said it could not verify that report.

Megaspeed denies diverting chips, and no public finding establishes that Huang broke export rules. None of the reports establishes how much hardware Nvidia sold directly, or in which quarters.

Chinese AI companies are trying to lock in Nvidia-powered capacity at overseas data centers before Washington closes that route, Reuters reported Nov. 12, citing three people familiar with the matter. Commerce is finalizing a rule barring Chinese firms from remotely accessing advanced chips abroad.

A Baker McKenzie lawyer told The Information that Commerce lacks clear authority under existing law. The Remote Access Security Act, which would grant it, passed the House 369-22 in January and awaits the Senate. Nvidia warns the bill could bar cloud services to companies with a China-headquartered ultimate parent and materially affect its business.

Commerce already moved on May 31: license requirements for advanced chips now apply to China-headquartered entities operating abroad, closing a gap that let overseas units buy Blackwell chips. Installed hardware could remain in service.

Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Richard Neal wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Nov. 12, calling the 25% tariff on H200s routed through the US for inspection an unconstitutional export tax.

Huang was the industry's most prominent advocate for selling into China. He said last year that Nvidia's share of China's AI chip market had fallen from 95% to zero; an IDC estimate cited by Reuters put Nvidia at 34% of Chinese AI-accelerator shipments in the first half of 2026.

Nvidia excludes China data center revenue from its forecasts, and its filing warns that export controls could limit cloud providers' ability to serve end customers even outside China. A broad remote-access rule could reach revenue booked in the US, Taiwan and elsewhere, which the geographic table does not separate.

The exposure is reputational and legal. If investigators conclude restricted chips moved through Nvidia's cloud partners, scrutiny shifts from lost China sales to export compliance. Nvidia faces a shareholder lawsuit over Huang's statements about Alice Huang, congressional demands for records and proposed defense-bill chip limits.

Why did China's revenue collapse?

What can the filings not see?

Can overseas rentals replace lost sales?

What does the scandal change for Nvidia?

Nvidia reports October-quarter results Nov. 17. The filing will show whether the $7.88 billion rebound persists, but a broad remote-access rule could cut the upside by reaching cloud capacity booked outside China.