Nvidia H200 Accelerators Flowing to China at Fraction of Permitted Limit

Nvidia's H200 accelerators are flowing to China again after a seven-month stall. In January, Washington approved licenses for up to 75,000 units per customer, but deliveries were halted. Now, ByteDance and Tencent have each received about 10,000 Nvidia H200 accelerators.

This represents just 13% of the permitted limit. The US government's approval process involves security procedures, inventory certification, and testing, which adds to the cost.

The trickle of deliveries is a result of both Washington and Beijing restricting the same trade for opposite reasons. Washington wants to slow Chinese AI capability, while Beijing aims to reduce dependence on American hardware.