- About 600,000 $NVDA H200 AI chips are stuck in Hong Kong as China restricts large-scale imports despite US export approval.
- China allows H200s only for AI model training, not deployment, to prioritize domestic chip use in inference tasks.
- Gray-market H200 server prices tripled to 6 million yuan ($1.2B) as import limits and US export controls intersect.
> China's selective import policy creates near-term cost pressures for Chinese AI firms but reflects a calculated strategy to develop domestic alternatives while maintaining access to superior US technology where Chinese products remain insufficient.