(Reuters) -China has stepped up enforcement of its import restrictions on U.S. chips, including Nvidia's artificial intelligence processors, the Financial Times reported, as Beijing sharpens its focus on promoting semiconductor production at home.
Chinese customs officials were sent to key ports to carry out strict checks on semiconductor shipments, the newspaper said on Friday, citing unidentified sources.
Chinese customs officials did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while an Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment on the report.
The newspaper said the inspections initially focused on Nvidia's H20 and RTX Pro 6000D, designed to comply with US export controls.
The controls have been expanded to include all advanced semiconductor products that exceed U.S. export restrictions, the report said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
The extent to which China has access to Nvidia's world-leading chips has been a major point of friction between the US and China.
The Financial Times newspaper had previously reported that at least $1 billion worth of Nvidia's top AI chips were smuggled and sold in China in the three months from May. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
Nvidia has tailor-made a new AI chip 'RTX6000D' for the Chinese market, Reuters reported last month, but there has been only tepid demand, with some major tech companies choosing not to place orders.
In August, US President Donald Trump raised the possibility of allowing Nvidia to sell more advanced chips in China.
Authorities in China have previously accused Nvidia of violating anti-monopoly law. They have also ordered top tech companies to halt purchases of Nvidia's AI chips and cancel existing orders, FT reported in September.
Despite the progress of Huawei and other Chinese chipmakers in recent years, people involved in engineering activities at Chinese tech companies say Nvidia's chips are performing better.
(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Subhranshu Sahu)
