Roughly 600,000 NVIDIA H200s Idle in Hong Kong Amid Beijing’s Import Hold

Reuters reported on November 5, 2026, citing two people familiar with the matter, that about 600,000 NVIDIA H200 artificial intelligence chips are stored in Hong Kong awaiting shipment to mainland China, as Beijing withholds approval for large-scale imports despite demand from Chinese technology firms.

Three people familiar with the matter said China had allowed some H200s into the country in recent months. One said several major Chinese internet companies had each obtained about 10,000 units over the past few months. Three sources also described small shipments through intermediaries and indirect routes, without specifying volumes.

The report links Beijing’s import constraints to concerns about dependence on U.S. technology. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission did not respond to requests for comment; neither did NVIDIA, Alibaba, ByteDance, DeepSeek or Tencent.

H200 Utility and Unofficial Prices

NVIDIA has newer AI processors, but the H200 remains useful for training AI models, especially when paired with NVIDIA’s software. The report describes capabilities that Chinese alternatives have yet to match, helping explain why Chinese companies continue pursuing the chips under tight supply conditions.

One person familiar with the matter said an eight-card H200 server was offered in mainland China for more than 6 million yuan by the end of October 2026, about three times its…