China’s customs agents told Nvidia’s H200 chips are not permitted, sources say
Two of the sources and a third source said Chinese government officials also called local technology companies to meetings on Tuesday and were given clear instructions not to buy chips unless necessary.
“The authorities’ statements are so harsh that it’s basically a ban for now, but that may change in the future if things change,” one of the people said.
BEIJING’S SECTORS ARE UNCERTAIN
Nvidia’s second most powerful AI chip, the H200, is one of the biggest flashpoints in current US-China relations.
While there is strong demand from Chinese firms, it remains unclear whether Beijing wants to ban it entirely so domestic chip companies can thrive, or whether it still continues to flout restrictions, or whether these measures could be used as a bargaining tactic in talks with Washington.
The chip, which was officially approved by the Trump administration this week for export to China with some conditions, is also an important issue in the USA; Many China hawks worry that the chips could strengthen China’s military and erode the United States. Advantage in AI.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said that “authorities did not provide any justification for their directive and did not give any indication whether this was a formal ban or a temporary measure.” Reuters could not immediately determine whether the directives applied to existing H200 chip orders or just new orders.
China’s General Administration of Customs, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment at the time the news was published. Nvidia did not respond to Reuters’ questions.
LARGE ORDERS HAVE BEEN PLACED
The Chinese government this week told some tech companies it would only approve H200 purchases under special conditions, such as research and development conducted in partnerships with universities, Tuesday’s information said.
Exemptions for R&D purposes and universities are being discussed, one of the sources said.
Wanting to suppress China’s artificial intelligence and technological development, the USA has been imposing restrictions on high-end chip exports to China since 2022.
Last year, Trump banned and then allowed the export of H20, a much weaker chip. But Beijing then effectively blocked those sales starting around August, prompting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to say the company’s share of the AI chip market in the world’s second-largest economy had fallen to zero.
However, the H200 offers nearly six times the performance of the H20, making it an extremely attractive product.
While Chinese chipmakers have developed AI processors such as Huawei’s Ascend 910C, the H200 is thought to be much more efficient for large-scale training of advanced AI models.
Chinese tech companies have ordered more than two million H200 chips, priced at about $27,000 each, sources said last month; This figure far exceeded Nvidia’s stock of 700,000 chips.
US conditions on H200 exports include a cap limiting China to no more than 50% of the total chips sold to US customers.
