First Nvidia H200 chips reach China as Beijing eases import block

ByteDance and Tencent have received their first shipments of Nvidia H200 chips as Beijing loosens its prior block on importing US-licensed AI chips. However, Beijing reportedly wants most of each company's licensed allowance, up to 100,000 units apiece, kept in Hong Kong, which lacks the power infrastructure to run them.

Why it matters: This is the clearest sign yet of a partial thaw in the chip standoff between Washington and Beijing, but the Hong Kong storage requirement suggests China is hedging rather than fully embracing US chips, keeping leverage for future negotiations while its domestic chip industry catches up. It follows a string of related stories on China's push for chip self-sufficiency and the mainland's cautious, on-again-off-again stance toward Nvidia hardware.