Chinese customs told to block H200 imports, report claims — directive would effectively ban the Nvidia AI chip from China

Chinese customs agents have been told not to allow Nvidia H200 imports into China, according to Reuters. The report, which claims to cite three people briefed on the matters, says the move would effectively serve as a ban on the advanced AI chips, although there is no telling whether this is a temporary condition or a permanent directive. The development, if confirmed, would be a fairly sharp twist in the ongoing H200 to China saga, where it was reported very recently that Beijing would allow some Chinese firms to import the chip under special circumstances.

The Trump Administration approved the sale of these AI GPUs to China last month, with Chinese tech giants like Alibaba and ByteDance reportedly lining up to buy 200,000 of these AI processors, each, if they receive approval from Beijing.

However, Beijing has been mum on whether it will approve or deny these companies’ purchase requests. China’s central government has reportedly been conducting meetings since the White House approved H200 exports to China to assess demand for these chips, and it even told its companies to pause any purchases while it’s still deliberating terms. That’s because the Chinese government is likely trying to balance the needs of its tech companies for advanced AI chips for training cutting-edge models and its goal of achieving semiconductor sovereignty by forcing its tech giants to purchase homegrown AI processors.

While there is no official word from Beijing at the moment, reports as recently as Tuesday had indicated that the import of these chips would be allowed under “special circumstances.” This might seem like a blow to Nvidia and the various Chinese companies that are raring to get their hands on the H200, but the wording is vague enough that it’s plausible that they could still be allowed to acquire them. However, this latest news of customs blocking the chip is a seismic development that would dampen any hopes of Nvidia re-entering the Chinese market.

It isn’t clear yet why this directive, which is yet to be officially confirmed, may have been handed down. After all, Beijing is in a tight race with Washington, D.C., for AI supremacy, with the two rivals competing to see which one will achieve global dominance in the space. It’s also looking to build up its own semiconductor industry so that it can break away from its dependence on American tech stacks. Alternatively, China could use such a directive as a bargaining chip to win more concessions from the U.S., especially as President Donald Trump is set to visit Beijing in April.

If the latter is true, this won’t be the first time that an Nvidia product has been used as a tool for international geopolitics. We first saw this when Trump banned the export of this China-specific AI GPU during the height of the trade war between the two rivals in April 2025. And even though Washington, D.C., reversed course some three months later, it was Beijing’s turn to disallow its tech companies from acquiring these chips, with the central government claiming that its homegrown AI processors can now match the H20 in terms of performance. Some sources say that China did this as a form of leverage with the U.S. During trade negotiations, so it could be that it’s also doing the same with the H200 chip today. We've reached out to Nvidia for comment on this latest development.

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