Nvidia H200 chips: 600,000 stuck in Hong Kong as Beijing delays

Nvidia's China revenue now depends on a decision that Beijing has not made. About 600,000 of its AI chips are waiting in Hong Kong for shipment to the mainland, and no approval date has been set.

According to Reuters, as relayed by Yahoo Finance, the story reads: "About 600,000 Nvidia artificial intelligence chips are stored in Hong Kong waiting for shipment to mainland China." The same report says "Beijing has not approved large-scale imports of the H200 chips despite demand from technology companies."

Demand is already visible. Several major Chinese internet companies have each received about 10,000 H200 chips in recent months. Smaller quantities have entered through intermediaries and indirect routes, though the amounts are not specified. Benzinga reports that by the end of October an eight-card H200 server was offered for more than 6 million yuan (about $900,000) in mainland China. That is roughly triple the price a year earlier. Blackwell-based servers were offered for more than 20 million yuan each.

Reports also say ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent ordered more than 3 million Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 graphics cards, with a combined sticker price above $35 billion. That figure comes from a report published the previous month.

One report, which has not been confirmed elsewhere, says Beijing wants firms including Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent and DeepSeek to prioritise Chinese processors for inference. It adds that total foreign-chip approvals could fall below 200,000 units. The figures in this story come from Yahoo Finance and Benzinga, which relay the Reuters report.

No timeline or criteria for a Beijing decision have been published. US regulatory approval, the notes add, does not automatically mean Nvidia chips can reach Chinese customers.

Nvidia is the most exposed party. Roughly 600,000 units sit outside the mainland with no published route to customers, and the company cannot book sales there until Beijing moves. Chinese buyers, meanwhile, are paying sharply higher prices for servers, which suggests strong demand has not yet been met through official channels.

Watch three things. First, any Beijing decision on large-scale H200 imports. Second, whether the sub-200,000 approval figure is confirmed, since it would define how much of the stockpile can move. Third, if the prioritisation of domestic processors for inference is confirmed, Chinese chip suppliers would gain from that policy, and foreign suppliers would lose ground.