How much of Apple and Nvidia still comes from China

The two most valuable hardware companies in the world reported within a month of each other, and their China lines point in opposite directions.

Apple

Greater China revenue was $18.8 billion in Apple’s June quarter, up 22% from $15.4 billion and 17.2% of total revenue (our arithmetic). The segment covers mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Tim Cook cited June-quarter records in mainland China and an all-time Mac revenue record in Greater China. Greater China tied Europe as Apple’s fastest-growing region. (Source: Apple Investor Relations)

Nvidia

Nvidia’s quarterly report put revenue from customers headquartered in China, including Hong Kong, at $7.9 billion, 8.2% of the July quarter’s total, according to Yahoo Finance. The measure follows where the customer is based, not where the chips end up.

The data-center part is small, by design. Nvidia shipped “less than 1% of our total data center revenue in Hopper 200 products to customers based in China,” CFO Colette Kress said, all under US licenses, and the third-quarter outlook includes no China data-center compute revenue. Nvidia took about $400 million of excess-inventory charges on H200, and said it is “unable to create and deliver a competitive product for wide distribution in China’s data center market with the approval from both the USG and the Chinese government,” Yahoo Finance reported. (Source: Nvidia Investor Relations, Yahoo Finance)

The rules, briefly

Since January, US rules let H200-class chips be licensed to approved buyers in China case by case, subject to conditions that include independent testing in the US and a cap tying China volumes to US shipments. In May, the Commerce Department confirmed that a license is also required for companies headquartered in China when they buy through subsidiaries elsewhere. Buyers in China face their own restrictions on purchases. (Source: Bureau of Industry and Security)

What it costs

For Apple, Greater China is a growth market again. For Nvidia, the forward guide treats China data-center compute as zero, and the company still guided revenue up 12% to $108 billion.