The Pulse
Nvidia Sets a 51% Non-China Sales Threshold for Cloud Clients
Nvidia has told cloud computing partners to direct at least 51% of their services to customers outside China, the Financial Times reports. The reported threshold applies to future contracts, while an earlier account described Nvidia’s guida
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
Nvidia has told cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to companies outside China, the Financial Times reported on November 3, citing five people familiar with the matter. The instruction applies to future contracts, not agreements already in place, according to the newspaper. Nvidia’s reported threshold would limit how much of a partner’s business can come from Chinese customers.
A 51% threshold for future contracts
The FT reported that Nvidia’s sales staff and regional teams have delivered the instructions verbally in recent months, rather than setting them out in written documents. The threshold is global, according to the reporting, not limited to data centers in Asia. Nvidia had not previously imposed the same restriction, the FT said.
The account differs in emphasis from a November 2 briefing by The Information. Citing three people familiar with the matter, that report described Nvidia’s request as guidance intended to broaden providers’ customer mix, not a mandatory rule. It said Nvidia asked cloud customers to identify the end users of its chips, but had not enforced the guidance as a hard limit on taking Chinese business.
Cloud access keeps Chinese firms in reach
Both reports concern computing capacity outside China. Chinese AI developers can rent access to advanced chips hosted abroad, rather than importing the processors themselves. The Information said that route had drawn attention from U.S. officials investigating Chinese companies’ access to advanced chips after allegations that Moonshot AI, the developer of Kimi, used Nvidia chips at data centers outside China.
The distinction between a request and a binding sales condition matters for cloud providers weighing new contracts. The FT’s 51% threshold gives the reported policy a specific measure, while The Information’s earlier account describes Nvidia’s guidance as unenforced and nonmandatory. Neither report says existing leases are being changed.
Nvidia points to U.S. infrastructure
Nvidia did not confirm or deny the FT report when approached by Agence France-Presse, but issued a statement defending the role of U.S.-built cloud infrastructure. “Longstanding U.S. policy encourages every cloud to build on American infrastructure and to win business everywhere they can,” the company said in the statement carried by AFP.
The company also said that data centers and clouds built on American chips support U.S. model and application makers competing worldwide. Asked about the report, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said she was not aware of it and called for a fair, transparent and nondiscriminatory business environment for companies from all countries, AFP reported.
The open question is enforcement
The reports leave a distinction that cloud partners will have to resolve: whether the 51% figure operates as a firm condition of future Nvidia business or as guidance that providers can decline to follow. The FT describes a requirement communicated verbally; The Information says Nvidia’s guidance was not mandatory and had not been enforced as a hard rule. Both accounts place the change in future contracts, leaving existing leasing agreements untouched.