Not just Shanghai, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang likely to visit Beijing amid surprise customs block for H200 chip

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s annual Shanghai visit for employee celebrations is likely to lead to a Beijing detour after the company’s H200 chips faced surprise import restrictions from Chinese customs authorities last week, according to a Reuters report.

The agency cited a source say that Jensen Huang is in Shanghai on a routine trip, to attend annual celebrations with employees in China on 24 January. However, another source told Reuters that the next part of his trip includes travel to Beijing, Shenzhen and Taiwan.

The report said that Nvidia did not respond to queries on the matter. It added that Jensen Huang’s presence in Shanghai was first reported by Chinese publication Tencent News on 23 January.

US, China sensitive on chips: Will ‘ban’ be lifted?

Notably, in 2025, the chipmaker’s chief travelled to China at least three times amid United States President Donald Trump‘s ban on export of US chips into the eastern country. Later in July last year, he also met China’s commerce minister, the report added.

In December, Donald Trump allowed the Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia to export its H200 chips to the Chinese markets, following months of lobbying by Jensen Huang with the Trump administration and Chinese officials.

A source last week told the Financial Times that Nvidia has been “caught by surprise” by the restrictions as its early shipments arrived in Hong Kong during the week. Now, concerns are rising that it is the Chinese authorities who will block shipments, two sources told FT.

China imposes customs restrictions on chip shipments: What happened?

As per the FT report, Chinese customs authorities told a logistics company in Shenzhen last week that Nvidia’s H200 chips are not allowed into country. There was no reason given for the block, nor indication of whether this is a temporary step or permanent ban, a source told the publication.

Sources further said that domestic tech companies have been warned against buying Nvidia chips and told to prioritise domestic options instead, This has led to tech giants like Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance debating limited purchase of H200 chips only for projects that require higher performance and easier maintenance.

(With inputs from Agencies)