Another day, another story about the import of NVIDIA H200 chips into China. Today, Reuters reported that Chinese authorities told customs agents that the import of NVIDIA H200 chips is banned. At the same time, authorities told local technology companies that purchases can only be made if it is absolutely necessary.
Today, the US government also allowed the export of NVIDIA H200 chips to China but on the condition that the number of chips sold is less than 50% of those sold to local companies. The H200 chip is an improvement on the H20 chip that was produced specifically for the Chinese market. Its performance is lower in an effort to ensure that the power of artificial intelligence (AI) will remain in the hands of the US company in the near future.
It was previously reported that 2 million H200 chips have been ordered by Chinese technology companies since the Blackwell architecture-based chip was announced. Sales are only allowed because NVIDIA has started releasing the more powerful Rubin architecture platform just a few weeks ago.
The import barriers imposed by China are most likely to encourage local companies to buy chips made by domestic companies such as those offered by Huawei. China is developing a local chip industry to avoid dependence on foreign technology and at the same time avoid any export barriers that will affect their future.
