600,000 Nvidia H200 chips stuck in Hong Kong awaiting China
About 600,000 Nvidia H200 AI chips are waiting in Hong Kong for Beijing's bulk import approval, while small shipments reached Chinese buyers.
About 600,000 Nvidia H200 chips dedicated to artificial intelligence are in Hong Kong, awaiting approval from Chinese authorities to import them in bulk, according to a report published by Analytics Insight.
Small shipments and batches from intermediaries reached Chinese buyers, while major internet companies received about 10,000 chips each, according to the report.
The report noted that chips made locally in China are still unable to match the H200 in demanding AI workloads.
The H200 chips are used to train and run large language models, the category AI companies need for their heavy workloads. The pile-up of these quantities in Hong Kong highlights the scale of Chinese demand for advanced computing capacity amid import restrictions.
What do these terms mean?
H200 chip: An advanced graphics chip from Nvidia used to train and run AI models.
Bulk import: Buying large quantities of a product at once, instead of in small separate shipments.
Computing capacity: The total power of computers and chips available to carry out complex calculations.
AI workloads: The heavy computing tasks required by AI models during training or use.
Intermediaries: Middle parties that buy goods and sell them to another party without being the manufacturer or end user.
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