51% Non-Chinese Enterprise Requirement Applies to New Nvidia Cloud Contracts, Report Says

NVIDIA has begun requiring new cloud customers to commit at least 51% of their service to non-Chinese companies, the Financial Times reported, citing five anonymous sources. The requirement, communicated verbally through NVIDIA's sales and regional organizations over recent months rather than in written contracts, applies to future agreements but not existing leases. The company has not disclosed how the 51% threshold is calculated—whether by revenue, compute capacity, or customer count—or how it distinguishes non-Chinese firms, and no such restriction existed previously. The condition signals NVIDIA's effort to manage compliance risk around US export controls while maintaining its cloud leasing business, and it could reshape which cloud providers and end customers gain access to NVIDIA GPUs. Watch for whether NVIDIA formalizes the terms in written contracts, clarifies the 51% calculation methodology, and whether similar conditions extend to other markets or customer segments.