U.S. Mulls Letting Nvidia Sell H200 Chips to China

The Trump administration is considering greenlighting sales of Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, people familiar with the matter said, as a bilateral détente boosts prospects for exports of advanced US technology to China, Alexandra Alper reported for Reuters.

China hawks in Washington are concerned that shipments of more advanced AI chips to China could help Beijing supercharge its military. (Photo: NVIDIA)

The Commerce Department, which oversees US export controls, is reviewing a change to its policy of barring sales of such chips to China, the sources said, stressing that plans could change.

A White House official declined to comment but said, “The administration is committed to securing America’s global technology leadership and safeguarding our national security.”

Nvidia did not comment directly on the review but said current regulations do not allow the company to offer a competitive AI data center chip in China, leaving that massive market to its rapidly growing foreign competitors, Karen Freifeld and Juby Babu also reported for Reuters.

The possibility signals a friendlier approach to China, after US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping brokered a trade and tech war truce in Busan last month.

China hawks in Washington are concerned that shipments of more advanced AI chips to China could help Beijing supercharge its military — fears that prompted the Biden administration to set limits on such exports.

Faced with Beijing's muscular use of export controls on rare earth minerals, critical for producing a raft of tech goods, Trump this year threatened new restrictions on tech exports to China, but ultimately rolled them back in most cases.