Nvidia’s H200 supply chain has slammed the brakes because Chinese customs has started blocking shipments, and nobody seems sure who signed off on the mess.
Suppliers of key H200 parts have paused production after local customs officials stopped shipments of the AI processors bound for China, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Makers of essential H200 components, including the printed circuit board, have halted manufacturing following moves to prevent chip shipments entering China, the people said.
If the customs ban sticks, Nvidia will take a serious hit after lobbying Washington and Beijing to keep its older H200 AI processors flowing into China.
After US President Donald Trump indicated he would allow sales last month if he got a 25 per cent cut, Nvidia ramped up output and suppliers geared up for an sprint to meet demand.
The outfit was expecting more than a million orders from Chinese clients, the people said, with deliveries originally pencilled in for as early as March.
Chinese customs officials summoned logistics companies in Shenzhen and told them they could not submit customs clearance applications for H200 chips, one person said.
It was not clear if the ban was temporary, but the timing was sharp since early H200 shipments had already arrived in Hong Kong this week.
One person said Nvidia was caught off guard by the move, which landed just as those first boxes started turning up.
That uncertainty spooked parts suppliers into pausing production this week so they do not get stuck with specialised inventory and painful write-offs.
SemiAnalysis, analyst Chu Wei-Chia said printed circuit boards are tailored to the H200 and cannot be repurposed.
Beijing has been leaning on tech firms to use domestic chips as it tries to muscle its way to semiconductor self-sufficiency.
The FT previously reported regulators were weighing limited access to H200 chips, which Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent prefer for better performance and easier maintenance.
The Asia Group, partner and co-chair of digital practice George Chen said: “The question of which government agency is regulating AI and the semiconductor industry in China is really complicated right now.”
There are competing views between the [National Development and Reform Commission], the [Ministry of Industry and Information Technology] and the Cyberspace Administration of China about what role Nvidia should play, which is leading to a confusing mixture of policies.” Chen said.
The H200 fog has pushed Chinese customers to reassess, with one Nvidia AI server seller saying many local buyers cancelled H200 orders.
They have shifted to the more advanced B200 and B300, which Washington bans from export into China, so the black market has predictably got busy.
Nvidia has been here before, and last summer Beijing stopped the country’s tech giants from buying the H20, a lower-performance H200 variant built to satisfy US export controls.
