About 600,000 Nvidia H200 artificial intelligence chips are in Hong Kong awaiting shipment to mainland China, as Beijing has not yet approved large-scale imports. The figure was given to Reuters by two sources familiar with the situation on November 5, marking the first time the size of that stockpile has been reported.
The situation is unusual: Washington now allows sales, Chinese tech companies want the chips, yet the hardware remains stuck at the border. According to a Reuters report carried by CNA, the bottleneck is on the Chinese side, reflecting Beijing's reluctance to increase dependence on American technology. China has only released small quantities of chips in recent months, and one source says several major Chinese internet companies received about 10,000 H200 units each. That is far less than demand.
The H200 is not Nvidia's latest processor, as it has been replaced by the Blackwell generation, but Chinese alternatives still do not match its performance in model training, especially with Nvidia's CUDA software package. As a result, prices on the unofficial market have soared. One source says a server with eight H200 cards was offered in mainland China for more than six million yuan at the end of October, about three times more than a year earlier.
Nvidia, as well as China's Ministry of Industry and the planning agency, did not respond to Reuters. For Nvidia, the accumulated chips are another sign that its business in China now depends on two governments, not one.
What this means for businesses
For domestic companies monitoring the global artificial intelligence market, this case shows that regulatory decisions can halt hardware shipments even when commercial conditions are met. Grey market server prices are reportedly several times higher, making AI model development in China more expensive and potentially slowing local projects. Companies that depend on imported equipment should anticipate long approval times and consider alternative suppliers. Nvidia's revenue in China remains unpredictable as long as Beijing rations imports.
This summary was written with AI based on the cited source and checked by automated rules. For exact details, read the original article.