ByteDance, Tencent each receive about 10,000 Nvidia H200 chips as Beijing eases import block
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ByteDance and Tencent have each taken delivery of approximately 10,000 Nvidia H200 accelerators in recent weeks, the first meaningful movement of the chips into mainland China since President Donald Trump approved their export in December. Beijing has directed most of each company's U.S.-licensed allowance, up to 100,000 units apiece, toward Hong Kong, while every mainland purchase requires case-by-case approval from the National Development and Reform Commission. The shipments come even as Chinese AI labs lag far behind U.S. providers on available inference capacity.
Key Facts
- ByteDance and Tencent each received around 10,000 Nvidia H200 chips in recent weeks.
- The U.S. allows each licensed Chinese company to import up to 100,000 H200 chips.
- Beijing wants most of each company's U.S.-licensed allowance kept in Hong Kong.
- Every mainland H200 purchase requires case-by-case approval from the National Development and Reform Commission.
- Nvidia is holding about 500,000 H200 chips built largely for Chinese customers.
First Mainland Deliveries
ByteDance and Tencent each took delivery of roughly 10,000 Nvidia H200 accelerators in recent weeks. The shipments mark the first meaningful movement of the chips into mainland China since President Donald Trump approved their export last December. Washington had licensed about 10 Chinese firms, including Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent, and JD.com, by May. Trump cleared H200 exports in exchange for a 25% cut of every sale to the U.S. Treasury.
Beijing's Import Controls
The U.S. allows each licensed Chinese company to import up to 100,000 H200 chips. Beijing wants most of each company's U.S.-licensed allowance kept off the mainland and has directed buyers toward Hong Kong. Hong Kong lacks the data centers and power to use the chips. Every mainland purchase requires case-by-case approval from the National Development and Reform Commission. As recently as mid-July, a U.S. trade official told a congressional hearing that only a very small quantity of chips had shipped against the licenses.
Nvidia Inventory and Chinese AI Models
Nvidia is holding about 500,000 H200 chips built largely for Chinese customers. The H200 is at least two generations behind Nvidia's most powerful chips, which China cannot buy because of U.S. export controls. Chinese labs have launched models including Moonshot's K3, Alibaba's Qwen3.8, DeepSeek V4, and Z.ai's GLM-5.3. They lag far behind U.S. providers on available inference capacity, and Moonshot had to turn customers away after a demand surge.
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ByteDance, Tencent each receive about 10,000 Nvidia H200 chips as Beijing eases import block
