Roughly 600,000 of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips are sitting in Hong Kong, stuck because Beijing hasn’t approved bringing them into mainland China. A Reuters exclusive published today reports the figure and says the size of the pile had not been reported before. The Nvidia chips Hong Kong warehouses now hold are the story.
Chips like these train the AI models behind the apps, search tools and chatbots people use every day. They also drive a big share of Nvidia’s sales. A pile this size means demand that hasn’t turned into revenue yet.
Nvidia is also a heavyweight in plenty of retirement accounts and index funds, so your 401(k) has a quiet interest in this stockpile. Its stock edged lower after the report. NVDA was around $199 in pre-market trading Thursday, according to TipRanks. That’s a small dip, not a panic. For more on how the market has treated the stock lately, see how Nvidia lost $835 billion in October yet retook the crown.
Reuters bases the 600,000 figure on two people familiar with the matter, neither named. No official has confirmed the number on the record. Nvidia, China’s industry and planning agencies, and major Chinese tech firms did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The Nvidia H200 stockpile shows up in the price tags
Sellers offered an eight-card H200 server in mainland China for more than 6 million yuan by the end of October. That’s about $900,000, and Reuters says it’s roughly three times the price a year earlier. Sellers listed servers built on Nvidia’s newer Blackwell chips, which fall under US export controls, at more than 20 million yuan each, per Investing.com’s summary of the report.
In other words, the chips China can’t easily import are fetching tripled prices on the open market. That is what a shortage looks like.
Nvidia AI chips China has let in so far
The wall is leaky, not sealed. Three people told Reuters that China has let some chips in over recent months. One of them said several major Chinese internet companies each obtained about 10,000 H200s. Smaller amounts also moved through intermediaries and indirect routes, though Reuters didn’t say how many.
What Beijing hasn’t done is approve large-volume imports. Reuters says the size of the Hong Kong chip stockpile reflects China’s reluctance to lean harder on American technology. The H200 isn’t Nvidia’s newest processor. Still, Chinese alternatives have yet to match it for training AI models.
How we got here: a very long tug-of-war
In December 2025, President Trump said he would allow H200 sales to approved Chinese customers, with the US taking a 25% cut. A US license for small H200 shipments to specific China-based customers followed in February 2026. Then in March, Reuters reported that Beijing had approved Nvidia’s H200 sales.
That timeline explains why the pile matters now. Washington said yes. Beijing said yes, sort of. And yet the boxes are in Hong Kong.
What happens next for H200 import approval
Nobody has announced whether or when China will authorize large-scale H200 imports. Watch for a response from China’s industry ministry or its planning agency, which didn’t answer Reuters. Also watch for any comment from Nvidia.
The next hard clue is Nvidia’s quarterly earnings report, expected in mid-November. Nvidia hasn’t confirmed the date, but estimates point to around November 17 or 18. Last quarter’s revenue hit $96.2 billion, up 106% from a year earlier, per Nvidia’s filing. So the company is growing fast without China.
Investors are also watching the wider China AI stock bubble that sank 40% in four months. The 600,000 chips in Hong Kong suggest how much more demand is waiting if the door opens.
Until then, a very expensive pile of silicon sits in a warehouse and waits for a stamp. Who blinks first?
