Episode summary
China Urges Companies Not to Use Nvidia’s H20 Chips | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 25 min · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Norah Mulinda · Guests: Ed Ludlow, Kenneth Shea, Anurag Rana, Erik Schatzker
Summary
China’s latest moves around Nvidia’s H20 chip dominated the first segment, with Bloomberg Technology co-host Ed Ludlow saying authorities have moved from an advisory to stronger pressure on local firms, including Alibaba and Tencent, to stop placing orders and avoid the chip for government or national-security work. He argued Wall Street now has to reassess near-term sales assumptions for Nvidia and AMD, especially after months in which China business had already been effectively at zero.
The cannabis discussion centered on President Trump’s comments that his administration was looking into marijuana rescheduling. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Kenneth Shea said that gave a beaten-down group like Tilray a short-term boost, but he stressed that actual rescheduling, let alone legalization, remains a long process and that federal tax treatment and the existing schedule-one status are still the main burdens.
Anurag Rana dismissed Elon Musk’s complaint that Apple favors OpenAI, saying app-store rankings reflect user demand and product strength, not Apple’s preference. The show then turned to Erik Schatzker’s interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, portraying him as a highly influential, unusually broad-ranging Trump-era Treasury chief who is deeply involved in trade, tax, sanctions, and other policy fronts.
Key takeaways
- Ed Ludlow said China’s latest pressure on Nvidia’s H20 is more extreme than an advisory and forces investors to reassess China revenue assumptions for Nvidia and AMD.
- Ludlow said Nvidia has effectively had zero business in China since the turn of the year, despite earlier hopes for as much as $7 billion in sales.
- Kenneth Shea said Trump’s rescheduling comments are only an early step and that federal tax rules and schedule-one status remain the cannabis industry’s biggest obstacles.
- Shea said cannabis companies can still be profitable at the gross-margin line, but taxes and regulation keep the sector under pressure.
- Anurag Rana said Musk’s Apple complaint is really about XAI not matching ChatGPT’s user base, not about Apple rigging the App Store.
- Erik Schatzker portrayed Scott Bessent as an unusually powerful Treasury Secretary with responsibilities well beyond the traditional job description.
Notable quotes
“the only appropriate time of the phrase market whipssaw that I've been able to use to date in this context”
“the market's reacting that's all that matters”
“it's a long process between um looking into it uh and actual rescheduling it”
“you just can't say that you know my product is not doing better because somebody else is is uh you know not giving it the same amount of love”
How the episode opens
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All right, I have to be honest with you. I'm having a hard time keeping up with this whole China, Nvidia, AMD. Tell me about it. Um, the 15% tariffs. Can the chips are they welcome in China? Are they not? Can they sell them in China?
Let's go to Ed Lelo. He's on top of this stuff. Ed Lo, Bloomberg Technology co-host. Uh, he's over in London right now. Hey Ed, what's the latest here? China is I guess they're urging firms not to use Nvidia's H20 chip. I thought things were kind of thawing out there.
Yeah, this is fast moving. This is, you know, the only appropriate time of the phrase market whipssaw that I've been able to use to date in this context. The information has reported that China's internet regulator has ordered firm ordered okay specific technology companies Alibaba 10cent among them to stop placing orders of Nvidia's H20.
The H20 is the China specific chip that had had performance engineered out of it that was subject to export control. What we knew, by the way, as of Monday morning was that Nvidia had not in any recent months shipped any H20s to China anyway. But the problem with this latest report, which has been in the last hour or so, is that it's a much more extreme uh move by China than what Bloomberg had reported overnight, which was basically an advisory.
Chinese authorities had strongly recommended to various Chinese technology companies not to use the H20 in particular as well as one chip from AMD.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- nvidia h20 chips
- china tech restrictions
- apple openai app store
- cannabis sector m&a
- tariffs and economic plan
Companies and tickers mentioned
- NVDA
- AAPL
- TLRY
- Nvidia
- Apple
- OpenAI
- Curaleaf
- Tilray
Watch the episode
Watch “China Urges Companies Not to Use Nvidia’s H20 Chips | Bloomberg Intelligence” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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