600,000 Nvidia H200 Chips Await Shipment to China Amid Beijing’s Import Curbs

Around 600,000 Nvidia H200 chips are sitting in Hong Kong warehouses while buyers await permission to ship them to mainland China, according to two people familiar with the matter. Beijing has yet to approve large-scale imports, despite strong demand from Chinese technology companies.

The previously unreported stockpile highlights China’s efforts to balance its growing artificial intelligence needs with concerns about dependence on US technology.

China has allowed some H200 chips to enter the country in recent months, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. One source said several major Chinese internet companies had each obtained around 10,000 chips.

However, Beijing has not approved large-volume imports into mainland China. Meanwhile, intermediaries have moved small quantities through indirect routes, although the sources did not specify the number of chips involved.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and National Development and Reform Commission did not respond to requests for comment. Nvidia, Alibaba, ByteDance, DeepSeek and Tencent also did not respond.

H200 Chips Remain Important for AI Development

Although the H200 is not Nvidia’s newest AI processor, it offers capabilities that Chinese alternatives have yet to match.

The chip remains valuable for training AI models, particularly when companies combine its computing power with Nvidia’s software ecosystem.

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Since 2022, US export controls have restricted China’s access to advanced Nvidia processors and the equipment needed to manufacture them.

Consequently, Chinese buyers increasingly rely on intermediaries and indirect supply routes. These restrictions have also driven prices higher in unofficial markets.

One person familiar with the matter said an eight-card H200 server carried an asking price of more than 6 million yuan, or around $900,000, in mainland China by late October. That figure stood at roughly three times the price a year earlier.

Meanwhile, sellers reportedly asked more than 20 million yuan for servers equipped with Nvidia’s newer Blackwell chips, which remain subject to US export controls.

Beijing and Washington Face Technology Tensions

The H200 has become part of wider technology and trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

The United States previously barred H200 exports to China. However, President Donald Trump’s administration later authorised Nvidia to sell the processors to approved Chinese customers.

The policy shift followed trade negotiations between the two countries. Beijing, meanwhile, has maintained restrictions on H200 imports, reflecting concerns about reliance on American technology.

Technology publication The Information reported in July that Chinese officials had told companies, including Alibaba, ByteDance and DeepSeek, they could receive approval to purchase limited quantities of H200 chips for AI model training.

The report suggested that total approvals could remain below 200,000 chips. It also said Beijing wanted technology companies to prioritise domestic processors for inference, the process of running trained AI models.

Chinese Tech Giants Expand Nvidia Orders

Reuters reported in October that ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent had ordered more than three million Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 graphics cards.

The export-compliant products carry a combined listed price exceeding $35 billion. However, they offer less computing power than Nvidia’s more advanced processors.

These reported orders underline China’s growing demand for AI hardware, even as regulatory restrictions limit access to Nvidia’s most powerful chips.