China’s customs authorities told customs agents this week that Nvidia’s (NVDA) H200 AI chips are not allowed to enter the country, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.
The people noted that authorities had not provided any reasons for the directives and had not given any indication if this was a formal ban or a temporary measure, the report added.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
On Tuesday, The Information reported that the Chinese government has told some local companies that H200 AI accelerators could be bought under special circumstances, citing examples as university research or development labs. However, the missive from the government officials was also vague, as they told the companies to buy the products if it was “necessary,” but did not specify what “necessary” meant.
Also on Tuesday, the Trump administration formally approved the sales H200, Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI chips, to China. Under the rules, the chips must be reviewed by a third-party testing lab to verify their AI capabilities before export. Shipments to China are capped at no more than 50% of the volume sold to U.S. customers.
Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump approved the sale of some advanced AI chips, including the H200 graphics processing units, or GPUs, to China in exchange for a 25% fee, opening a path for Nvidia (NVDA) to recover some lost revenue from China.
Earlier this month, China, reportedly, told some of its tech companies to halt orders of H200 GPUs before the government decides whether to allow the chips to be sold in the country.
Last week, Nvidia’s Founder and CEO Jensen Huang, reportedly, said that he does not believe the Chinese government will make a formal declaration that it has allowed Chinese companies to import the chipmaker’s H200 GPUs but that proof will come through purchase orders.
The H200 is the predecessor to Nvidia’s current flagship Blackwell chips and the upcoming Vera Rubin. The Trump Administration had previously allowed Nvidia to sell a less powerful GPU, the H20, to China. However, Chinese state run media criticized the chip for lacking technological prowess, being environmentally unfriendly and calling it unsafe. Regulators in the Asian country reportedly halted imports of the H20 over security issues.
While Chinese companies have developed AI processors such as Huawei Technologies’s Ascend 910C, the H200 is considered far more efficient for large-scale training of advanced AI models, Reuters reported.
Chinese technology companies have placed orders for over 2M H200 chips priced at around $27,000 each, exceeding Nvidia’s inventory of 700,000 chips, sources said last month, the report added.