Approximately 600,000 Nvidia H200 chips destined for mainland China are currently being held in Hong Kong, awaiting import approval from the Chinese government.

Despite this, according to a report from Reuters, small quantities of chips have been shipped via intermediaries and indirect routes, with sources cited by the outlet claiming “several major Chinese Internet companies” have each obtained 10,000 H200 GPUs in the past several months.

Former US President Joe Biden had banned the export of Nvidia H200 chips to China, but the Trump administration reversed the decision in December 2025, ultimately formalizing the approval in January of this year.

However, the regulation came with a number of new provisions that had not been previously announced, with the government introducing a 25 percent export tariff on the hardware. Nvidia is not permitted to export chips to China more powerful than the H200.

This means that the less powerful RTX Pro 5500 workstation graphics card is cleared for shipping to China. However, Bloomberg reported that Chinese AI developers expect to receive only one percent of the chips they have ordered in the coming months.

The low shipment number is due to capacity constraints, with Nvidia currently ramping up production. Should export controls not change, Chinese hyperscalers estimate they could receive around 700,000 RTX Pro 5500 units by the end of 2027.

In March, the co-founder of server maker Supermicro, Wally Liaw, was arrested on charges of violating US export-control laws by allegedly working to smuggle $2.5 billion worth of Nvidia GPU servers into China. The company has denied wrongdoing; Liaw has pled not guilty.