FT: Nvidia Tells Data Centre Partners to Limit Chinese Customers

Nvidia has told cloud and data centre partners around the world to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to a Financial Times report published on November 3, 2026. The FT's own article is paywalled; this account is based on how Il Sole 24 Ore, Investing.com and TipRanks summarised it.

The FT cited five people with knowledge of the matter. They said Nvidia passed on the instruction verbally in recent months, through its sales force and regional teams, rather than in written agreements. Investing.com, summarising the FT, said Nvidia had no comparable restriction before.

Two of the FT's sources said the rule applies to Nvidia's customers globally, not only to data centres in Asia. It reportedly covers future contracts only, so existing leasing agreements are not affected.

Why it matters

Chinese technology companies have long rented advanced computing capacity from overseas cloud providers for demanding AI work, including model training, the FT reported. A cap on how much of a provider's business can go to Chinese customers would narrow one of the main ways those firms reach US chips while Washington tightens export controls. Investing.com noted that US efforts to limit Chinese access to advanced chips through cloud deals are continuing.

According to SiliconReport's summary of the FT story, cloud operators expect the threshold to be hard to meet. A Singapore-based provider said it is difficult to find enough non-Chinese customers outside the US and warned that strict enforcement would hurt its business. The same report said Nvidia had already cut the number of Asian customers approved to buy its AI processors by more than half after drawing up a whitelist of companies that passed stricter compliance reviews.

Nvidia's response

Nvidia has not publicly confirmed the 51% figure. In a statement quoted by the FT and reported by Il Sole 24 Ore, the company said data centres and cloud services built on American chips are the foundation US hardware and software makers need to compete globally. It added that long-standing US policy encourages every cloud provider to rely on American infrastructure and win market share wherever it can. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the FT's report, EM360Tech noted.

Reaction and caveats

SiliconReport said that in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said she was not aware of the report. She urged all parties to provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from every country.

A separate report from The Information on November 2, cited by EM360Tech, described Nvidia's message as guidance to help cloud providers, including Nvidia-backed neoclouds, diversify their customers. Three people quoted by The Information said the guidance was not mandatory and had not been enforced as a strict ban on Chinese customers. The Information also reported that Nvidia is asking cloud customers to identify the end users of its chips. How much the policy changes in practice may depend on how individual providers interpret it.