About 600,000 of Nvidia‘s advanced artificial intelligence chips are sitting in warehouses in Hong Kong, unable to reach mainland China, because Beijing is withholding approval for large-scale imports despite desperate demand from Chinese technology firms.
Key Points
- Around 600,000 Nvidia H200 chips are stockpiled in Hong Kong awaiting shipment to mainland China, Reuters reported.
- Beijing has yet to approve large-volume imports, reflecting reluctance to increase reliance on US technology.
- An eight-card H200 server now sells for more than 6 million yuan (about $900,000) in mainland China — about three times its price a year earlier.
- Several major Chinese internet companies have each obtained only about 10,000 H200 chips in recent months.
The size of the stockpile, which has not previously been reported, reflects Beijing’s reluctance to increase reliance on US technology even as Chinese companies need Nvidia’s advanced computing power to meet surging AI demand in the world’s second-largest economy. China has allowed some of the chips to enter the country in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter, but has yet to approve large-volume imports.
The H200 is not Nvidia’s newest AI processor, but it has capabilities that Chinese alternatives have yet to match, making it useful for training AI models — particularly when combined with Nvidia’s software. That scarcity has created a thriving grey market: an eight-card H200 server was offered for more than 6 million yuan (about $900,000) in mainland China by the end of October, about three times its price a year earlier.
A chip caught between two governments
The H200 is caught in the tension over trade and technology more broadly between Washington and Beijing. US export controls since 2022 have sought to restrict China’s access to advanced Nvidia chips and the equipment needed to make them. The United States barred exports of the H200 to China before President Donald Trump’s administration gave Nvidia permission last year to sell the chips to approved Chinese customers.
Beijing has now imposed its own constraints on H200 imports, reflecting concerns about dependence on US technology — and pushing Chinese firms toward domestic alternatives. Technology publication The Information reported in July that Chinese officials had told companies, including Alibaba, ByteDance and DeepSeek, that they could receive permission to buy limited quantities of H200 chips for training AI models.
Meanwhile, Chinese tech giants are hedging. Reuters reported last month that ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent had ordered more than 3 million Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 graphics cards, a less powerful export-compliant product, with a combined sticker price exceeding $35 billion.
What happens next
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission did not respond to requests for comment, and neither side has said when — or whether — large-volume H200 imports will be approved.
For Nvidia, the pile-up is both a problem and a proof of demand: 600,000 chips waiting at the border shows just how badly Chinese firms want its hardware. For Beijing, the question is whether domestic chips can close the gap before the shortage starts to bite. Until then, the world’s most wanted AI chips will keep gathering dust in Hong Kong.
Sources
- Reuters — https://1027wbow.com/2026/11/05/exclusive-nvidia-chips-pile-up-in-hong-kong-as-china-withholds-import-approval/
- The Information via Reuters (context)