600,000 Nvidia H200 Chips Sit in Hong Kong as Beijing Holds Up Import Licenses

About 600,000 Nvidia H200 AI processors are stored in Hong Kong warehouses awaiting Chinese import approvals that Beijing has not granted, according to a Reuters report citing two people familiar with the matter [1]. The stockpile, which has not previously been reported, reflects Beijing's reluctance to increase reliance on US technology [1].

The stockpile and the trickle

The H200 is not Nvidia's newest AI processor, but it retains capabilities that Chinese alternatives have yet to match, particularly when paired with Nvidia's software stack, making it valuable for training large AI models [1]. Nvidia's newer Blackwell chips are also subject to U.S. export controls, Reuters notes [1].

China has allowed some chips to enter in recent months. Several major Chinese internet companies have each obtained roughly 10,000 H200s, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters [1]. Alibaba, ByteDance, DeepSeek and Tencent did not respond to requests for comment [1]. Small additional quantities have moved through intermediaries and indirect routes, though the volumes are unspecified [1]. What Beijing has not done is approve large-volume imports. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment; neither did Nvidia or the four Chinese companies [1].

Dual restrictions, one market

The bottleneck sits at the intersection of two governments' policies. The United States barred H200 exports to China (the chip fell under export controls imposed from 2022 onward), then the Trump administration last year permitted Nvidia to sell the chips to approved Chinese customers following trade negotiations [1]. Beijing responded with its own import limits, reflecting concerns about dependence on U.S. technology [1].

The Information reported in July that Chinese officials told Alibaba, ByteDance and DeepSeek they could receive permission to buy limited quantities of H200s for training, with total approvals potentially capped below 200,000 chips [1]. Officials also signaled that firms should prioritize Chinese-made processors for inference — the task of running models rather than training them [1].

Price signals and alternative tracks

With authorized supply constrained, an unofficial market has developed. By the end of October, an eight-card H200 server was offered in mainland China for more than 6 million yuan (about $900,000) — roughly triple its price a year earlier [1]. Servers equipped with Blackwell chips, also subject to U.S. export controls, were quoted above 20 million yuan each [1].

Chinese companies are simultaneously pursuing compliant alternatives. Reuters reported last month that ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent had ordered more than 3 million Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 graphics cards, a less powerful but export-compliant product, with a combined sticker price exceeding $35 billion [1].

What the reporting leaves open

The sources do not say whether the 600,000 chips in Hong Kong represent inventory Nvidia has already booked as revenue, nor what contractual obligations exist between Nvidia and its Chinese customers. It is unclear how many of the chips currently in Hong Kong are earmarked for the companies that have already received small allocations versus new orders. The actual volume moving through "intermediaries and indirect routes" is unspecified. And Beijing's ultimate cap — whether it holds at the <200,000 figure reported by The Information or shifts — remains an open question.

The hype lens

The story is often framed as a pure supply-constraint narrative: Chinese demand is insatiable, U.S. controls are leaky, and Nvidia wins either way. The evidence is more mixed. Beijing is actively throttling imports of a chip the U.S. has already allowed for sale, signaling that its priority is reducing dependence over maximizing near-term compute access. Chinese firms are paying 3x premiums in gray markets while simultaneously placing $35 billion in orders for a weaker, compliant product. That suggests both desperation and a hedge — not confidence that the H200 pipeline will open.

Nvidia's China revenue outlook depends on a political decision in Beijing, not a technical one in Santa Clara. The 600,000 chips in Hong Kong are a physical manifestation of that dependency.