CNBC's Deirdre Bosa takes a closer look at what Nvidia could mean for China’s biggest tech players.

Shanghai

China is accelerating efforts to develop domestic artificial intelligence chips as the United States, under President Trump, eases export restrictions on Nvidia hardware. Major Chinese tech firms like ByteDance and Alibaba quickly placed orders for Nvidia's H200 chips, underscoring the country's continued dependence on U.S. technology.

The policy change presents a dilemma for Beijing: allowing access to Nvidia chips could undermine domestic chipmakers, while restricting access may slow technological progress. Analysts note that this move formalizes China's reliance on U.S. hardware and keeps the pace of progress subject to U.S. policy decisions, despite years of efforts to build a self-sufficient semiconductor sector.

China's Nvidia dilemma: Here's what you need to know

China, accelerating efforts to boost domestic artificial intelligence chips, even as President Trump is easing NVIDIA export restrictions. Deirdre Bossen dug into more what NVIDIA chips could mean for China's tech giants as part of our tech check. Deep Sea, yes, it's reportedly training on smuggled black wells. Meanwhile, by dancing Alibaba, Reuters says immediately asked for H200 orders as soon as Trump reopened the window. Now, this all exposes how far behind China's domestic chip sector still is. It also forces Beijing into a three-way tradeoff that it can't win, letting companies buy NVIDIA chips that hurts momentum behind Beijing's domestic chip champions that, by the way, are now worth nearly $300 billion in market cap. On the other hand, blocking them slows its own tech giants and weakens China's best AI models. Third option, looking the other way, while companies keep using gray market chips, that means giving up regulatory control altogether. So whichever way it turns, Beijing loses leverage. Now, the policy itself, it doesn't supercharge China's AI sector. It formalizes the dependents that already existed in the shadows, dependents that Deep Seek and others have already been exploiting. And instead of breaking from U.S. hardware, Chinese AI labs, they end up even more tied to NVIDIA's roadmap, stuck at whatever generation Washington is allowing. Now, TrendForce, an industry research firm cited by analysts that predicted that China's high-end chip market would grow by over 60 percent next year, reaching about 50 percent market share. But that projection was built during a ban on U.S. chips. This reopening, that could change the equation and threatens all of that artificial demand that Beijing has spent years propping up. That's why, guys, this is not the strategic loss that some critics and China hawks, lawmakers that they claim. Legal access doesn't actually narrow the gap. It just narrows China's options, and it keeps the ceiling on progress in U.S. hands, guys. Yeah, I mean, so many questions. There's the geopolitical question, and then, Deirdre, there's the technology question, which you have. And that sort of lends credence to the idea, we were talking to Jack Kettery last hour about, we'll give them, let them build off the U.S. stack so that we can kind of know what's going on there and be more in control. And then they won't do it themselves, and it'll be more of a black box. And that's key, right? It's all about control, because we know that they were going to do it anyways. Even the first deep-seek model that made all those headlines at the beginning of this year, you know, there's a lot of speculation that they were able to smuggle a bunch of Nvidia chips to get there. So what this does is just kind of put Beijing in a real bind. Everywhere they turn, they're kind of losing. And remember, too, that for years, they've been trying to build up their domestic chip makers that are far from the technology capable of the U.S. chip makers. So this really forces, like, Beijing into a corner. Chip makers were going to do this regardless. Now it forces Beijing to choose who can and who isn't able to use these Nvidia chips. And he uses the domestic accelerators, which, you know, end of the day, nobody actually wants to use. That puts this very clearly in focus.

For the first time, Amnesty International has accused Hamas and its allies of committing crimes against humanity, following an investigation into the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel. The organization found that 1,221 people were killed and said the mass killing of civilians amounted to extermination.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Amnesty accuses Hamas of 'crimes against humanity' for Oct. 7 attack

The “Architects of AI” were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view” with no turning back.

Rise of AI

Time magazine names 'Architects of AI' as person of the year for 2025

Message board website Reddit filed a lawsuit on Friday (December 12) asking Australia's High Court to overturn the country's social media ban for people under 16 as well as its inclusion in it, calling the law an infringement of free political expression.

Council of the City of Sydney

Reddit sues to overturn Australian social media ban

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Washington

Trump says Venezuela land operations could begin 'pretty soon'

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Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

EU triggers emergency clause to indefinitely immobilise Russian assets

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Caracas

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Japanese authorities are assessing damage after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, followed by multiple aftershocks. In response, officials have issued a warning about the possibility of a megaquake, defined as a magnitude 8.0 or higher event.

Tokyo

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Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immediate release from ICE custody

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Samraong

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The U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions with Caracas.

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The U.S. House has approved a bill to end all Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, sparking cautious optimism in Damascus as the measure moves closer to becoming law.

U.S. House votes to lift Caesar Act sanctions on Syria

Myanmar's military bombs a hospital in western Rakhine state, at least 31 people are killed and dozens injured.

Rakhine

Air strike in Myanmar killed at least 31 people, dozens injured

The U.S. military seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the ship had been used to violate sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Iran.

U.S. seizes oil tanker off Venezuela coast

The daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother's behalf in Oslo, Norway. Machado, who lives in hiding in Venezuela, is set to make an address on Thursday.

Oslo

Venezuela's Machado awarded Nobel Peace Prize in absentia

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Kyiv

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A renewed outbreak of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia has derailed a US-brokered peace agreement, with cross-border shelling and air raids forcing more than half a million civilians to flee their homes.

Bangkok

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U.S. immigration agents used pepper spray against protesters in Minneapolis on Tuesday as residents blocked the officers’ vehicles and forced them to leave the area.

Minneapolis

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In Australia, millions of kids' social media profiles are going dark, as the country's new social media ban takes effect for anyone under 16. Jo Ling Kent reports.

Canberra

Australia's social media ban takes effect for kids under 16

President Trump, in recent months, has dismissed concerns about affordability, but this evening, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, he is focusing on the crisis and touting his administration's efforts to lower the cost of living. Nancy Cordes has more.

Pennsylvania

Trump tries to flip the script on affordability

Dozens of protesters blocked a highway near Tel Aviv to demonstrate against moves by the Israeli government to force some ultra-Orthodox Jews into mandatory military service, something they are currently exempt from so they can study the Torah full time.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

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President Trump has told Politico that Nicolas Maduro's "days are numbered" in Venezuela. Political strategists Kevin Sheridan and Hyma Moore join with analysis.

Trump says Maduro’s “days are numbered”

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FBI releases new photo of alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Pope Leo XIV and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Tuesday (December 9), meanwhile voicing his refusal to surrender territory to Moscow despite pressure from Washington for territorial concessions.

Rome

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A federal judge said Tuesday (December 9) that the Department of Justice can unseal the Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking case records. CBS News' Scott MacFarlane has more details.

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Prosecutors on Monday (December 8) released new evidence seized from Luigi Mangione on the day of his arrest. He is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a year ago and has pleaded not guilty.

Manhattan

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The EU antitrust enforcer has opened an investigation into the U.S. tech giant over its use of online content to power its AI services, a move that threatens to ratchet up transatlantic relations.

Brussels

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The U.S. government said the approval, which comes in exchange for a 25% surcharge, would also be available to other chipmakers like Intel and AMD.

Trump gives Nvidia green light to sell H200 chips to China

Ukraine is set to present a revised peace plan to the United States on Tuesday following President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s talks in London with the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain.

London

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The International Criminal Court Tuesday handed down a sentence of 20 years to a Sudanese militia leader for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country's civil war two decades ago.

Breakdown