Nvidia’s H200 suppliers reportedly pause production after China blocks imports

The saga of Nvidia’s H200s has more confounding twists and turns than a house of mirrors.

On Friday evening, the Financial Times reported that suppliers for Nvidia’s H200 chips have halted production amid reports that Beijing has banned these processors from entering the country. Bloomberg had previously reported that China would begin to allow H200 imports for commercial use “as soon as this quarter.”

Nvidia called upon suppliers to boost output of components for these H200 chips after reportedly receiving more than 2 million orders from Chinese customers while only having roughly 700,000 in inventory.

Chinese policymakers have been keen on boosting their domestic semiconductor industry, with Nvidia’s H20 chips (a nerfed version of the H200) not breaking through into the market in a meaningful way even after export restrictions were lifted last year. Even though the H200 is considerably more powerful than the H20, recent reporting by both the FT and The Information suggests that regulators are similarly intent on limiting access.

That’s creating a more robust black market for Nvidia’s flagship Blackwell chips, per the FT:

One Chinese seller of Nvidia AI servers said many local customers had cancelled orders for the H200. Instead, they have switched to the more advanced B200 and B300, which are banned for export into China by Washington, leading to an active black market for the chips.

The Department of Commerce had recently revised its export review policy to lay the foundation for Nvidia to begin to ship these chips to the world’s second-largest economy, while US President Donald Trump imposed a 25% levy on H200 imports into the US that will not be used domestically (that is, will be brought in then re-exported to China). These announcements also cover AMD’s MI325X chips.