Technology

Chinese companies reportedly considering sourcing H200 chips from the black market as chips held at the border — demand for Nvidia AI GPUs remain high despite political uncertainty

Source

Tom's Hardware

Published

Jan 22, 2026

TL;DR

AI Generated

Chinese companies are considering sourcing Nvidia's H200 AI GPUs from the black market due to a ban on imports by Beijing. Customs officials are holding H200 chips at the border, leading buyers to explore illegal channels for acquisition. Despite political uncertainty, demand for these GPUs remains high in China, with some companies resorting to paying a premium for them. The Chinese government aims to boost its domestic semiconductor industry but faces challenges in matching the performance of advanced Western chips like the H200. It is unclear whether Beijing's ban on the H200 is permanent or a negotiating tactic, with upcoming visits by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and President Trump potentially influencing the situation.

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Chinese companies reportedly considering sourcing H200 chips from the black market as chips held at the border — demand for Nvidia AI GPUs remain high despite political uncertainty

TL;DR

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Lexar regional manager says that RAM prices are expected to double by the end of the year — 'discounts' and stabilized prices result from distributors getting rid of old stock or sourcing products from other regions

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Chinese companies reportedly considering sourcing H200 chips from the black market as chips held at the border — demand for Nvidia AI GPUs remain high despite political uncertainty

TL;DR

Similar Articles

Lexar regional manager says that RAM prices are expected to double by the end of the year — 'discounts' and stabilized prices result from distributors getting rid of old stock or sourcing products from other regions

Taiwanese startup FormulaV Line wants to break into US market with two new unique cases — company expects products to become available on Newegg later this year

G.Skill explains how AMD EXPO ULL unlocks additional performance — expanded profiles allow memory makers to include subtiming tweaks for the first time

Huawei-led team claims it post-trained DeepSeek's 1.6-trillion-parameter model — 1,000 Ascend 910C chips used in training