Small consignments of Nvidia’s H200 chips - among the company’s most capable AI processors - have been permitted to enter mainland China, according to a report that cited two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The shipments, which arrived in recent weeks, included roughly 10,000 H200 processors each to ByteDance and Tencent. The same report indicated that a handful of other Chinese technology firms could soon receive comparable batches.
U.S. export permissions have reportedly allowed companies to buy as many as 100,000 H200 chips apiece. Despite that allowance from U.S. authorities, Chinese officials have signaled a preference for keeping the imported hardware outside mainland China. The reported rationale is to preserve space for domestic chipmakers to expand, by limiting immediate onshore deployment of such advanced foreign processors.
Chinese regulators have conveyed to companies that they may ship the processors to Hong Kong - which operates outside mainland China’s customs border - and use them there. That instruction creates a logistical distinction between where the hardware can be held and where it can be operated under current customs rules.
Separately, a U.S. official told Congress last month that a small number of Nvidia H200 chips had been shipped to China. Reuters could not immediately verify the recent account of shipments and regulatory guidance. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Context and implications
The developments outline a constrained flow of high-end AI processors into Chinese firms, combining U.S. purchase approvals with Chinese restrictions on onshore deployment. The arrangement - small batches permitted to enter, but with direction to keep hardware outside mainland customs for use - reflects a controlled approach that could affect how and where advanced AI workloads are staged and run.
Details remain limited to the reported figures and regulatory guidance; confirmation of broader shipment volumes or longer-term plans was not available in the reporting.