NVIDIA Drops 3.1% to $217 as Washington Eyes China AI Chip Access

The pressure behind the selloff centers on a Washington review into how Chinese companies are accessing Nvidia silicon through offshore data centers. At a $5.3 trillion market cap, even a policy risk that once looked peripheral is now large enough to move the stock meaningfully, and a drop from roughly $224 at the open to $217 shows traders repricing that exposure in real time.

The concern is structural rather than a one-day headline. If formal restrictions are imposed on the offshore-data-center loophole, Nvidia loses a channel that the market had effectively been treating as inconsequential. For a company that sits at the center of the global AI buildout, any narrowing of its addressable market carries outsized weight on broader AI-linked portfolios.

The stock's intraday path tells the story clearly: prices held near the $222–$223 range early in the session before a steady grind lower accelerated into the afternoon, with the final stretch pushing NVDA to the $217 level where it settled. Investors will be watching for any official guidance out of Washington that either confirms a coming restriction or walks back the review.