Chinese customs authorities have launched a sweeping crackdown on Nvidia chip shipments, according to reporting by The Financial Times published October 9. The report says enforcement teams have been deployed at major ports to inspect data-center hardware, with a specific focus on Nvidia’s H20 and RTX 6000D — chips designed to comply with U.S. export controls but now under fresh scrutiny from Beijing.
The inspections, which began in recent weeks, are reportedly being coordinated by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), with assistance from customs officials. The campaign initially targeted the H20 and RTX 6000D, but has since broadened to include “all advanced semiconductor products.” The FT says that officials are focused on stopping smuggled U.S. chips from reaching domestic data centers. Nvidia declined to comment when contacted by Tom’s Hardware.
China’s pressure on the H20 is especially notable. Announced last year as a tailored workaround to avoid falling afoul of Washington’s updated export rules, the H20 had only recently begun shipping in volume to Chinese server OEMs. Given that the likes of ByteDance and Alibaba were reportedly told in mid-September to halt further H20 orders, some or all of those shipments will now undoubtedly be held up or blocked indefinitely.
At the same time, China’s homegrown roadmap is real but uneven. China’s decision to begin cracking down on imports might reflect a growing confidence in its domestic hardware, but while domestic accelerators are ramping up at Chinese fabs, bottlenecks exist in HBM supply and overall fab capacity. This suggests near-term friction for data-center operators with more delays for inbound H20 RTX 6000D shipments on one side — that may well never reach them — and slower-than-hoped rollouts of homegrown silicon on the other.
