According to an IDC report seen by Reuters, NVIDIA's market share in China's data center AI chip market fell to 34% in the first half of 2026. The reason is clear: U.S. export restrictions have hindered its product supply, while domestic Chinese competitors have taken the opportunity to expand. IDC data shows that from January to June this year, NVIDIA's shipments of AI accelerators (used for training and running AI models) in China reached 678,000 units, a sharp 44% decline compared to the same period last year.
CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly criticized Washington's restrictions, stating that these policies are forcing NVIDIA to hand over the $50 billion AI chip market in China to Huawei. However, IDC did not specify which products made up the 34% share, nor did it mention whether advanced chips such as B200 and B300 were included—leaving the situation unclear.
Nine domestic manufacturers saw a collective rise, with Huawei emerging as the biggest winner
The shift in market dynamics is reflected in the shipment figures: among the 11 Chinese chip manufacturers tracked by IDC, nine saw positive growth in the first half of the year. Huawei stood out, shipping 572,000 AI accelerators, far exceeding the over 300,000 units shipped during the same period last year, with its market share rising to 28%, just one step away from NVIDIA. Other positions were also captured by domestic companies: T-head accounted for 7%, Cambricon 5%, Baidu Kunlun Chip 4%, and Hygon 3%.
As of the time of this writing, NVIDIA has not commented on the data. This new landscape reflects the counterintuitive consequences of the regulatory policies—intended to restrict competitors, but instead accelerating China's supply chain substitution process. As Huawei and others nearly doubled their shipments within a year, the once nearly monopolized market is now irreversibly moving toward a multipolar structure.
