Nvidia has ordered about 300,000 H20 artificial-intelligence chips from contract manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., shifting from an earlier plan to rely on its existing inventory, according to people familiar with the matter. The additional production was prompted by stronger-than-expected demand from Chinese data-center customers, the sources said. The H20 was designed specifically for the Chinese market after U.S. export curbs limited shipments of Nvidia’s more powerful AI processors. Although the Trump administration earlier this month lifted an April ban on H20 exports, Nvidia still needs individual licenses to ship the new batches. The U.S. Commerce Department has not yet approved those applications, according to the sources. Nvidia already holds an estimated 600,000 to 700,000 H20 units and sold about 1 million of the chips in 2024, research firm SemiAnalysis estimates. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang has told customers that the scale of new orders would determine whether the supply chain for the H20 is restarted, a process he said could take up to nine months.