Nvidia to resume sales of highly desired AI computer chips to China
BANGKOK--Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang says the technology giant has won approval from the Trump administration to sell its advanced H20 computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence to China.
The news came in a company blog post late Monday, which stated that the U.S. government had 'assured' Nvidia that licenses would be granted — and that the company 'hopes to start deliveries soon.' Shares of the California-based chipmaker were up over 4% by midday Tuesday.
Huang also spoke about the coup on China's state-run CGTN television network, in remarks shown on X.
'Today, I'm announcing that the U.S. government has approved for us filing licenses to start shipping H20s,' Huang told reporters in Beijing.
He added that half of the world's AI researchers are in China. 'It's so innovative and dynamic here in China that it's really important that American companies are able to compete and serve the market here,' he said.
Huang recently met with President Donald Trump and other U.S. policymakers — and is in Beijing this week to attend a supply chain conference and speak with Chinese officials. The broadcast showed Huang meeting with Ren Hongbin, the head of the China Council for Promotion of International Trade, host of the China International Supply Chain Expo, which Huang was attending. Nvidia is an exhibitor.
Nvidia has profited enormously from the rapid adoption of AI, becoming the first company to have its market value surpass $4 trillion last week. However, the trade rivalry between the U.S. and China has been weighing heavily on the industry.
Here's what we know.
The H20 graphics processing unit, or GPU, is an advanced AI chip — a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But it's less powerful than Nvidia's top semiconductors today.
That's because the H20 chip was developed to specifically comply with U.S. restrictions for exports of AI chips to China. Nvidia's most advanced chips, which carry more computing power, are off-limits to the Chinese market.
Washington has been tightening controls on exports of advanced technology to China for years, citing concerns that know-how meant for civilian use could be deployed for military purposes. And in January, before Trump began his second term in office, President Joe Biden's administration launched a new framework for exporting advanced computer chips used to develop AI — in an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of producers and other countries.
Restrictions on sales of advanced chips to China have been central to the AI race between the world's two largest economic powers, but such controls are also controversial. Proponents argue that these restrictions are necessary to slow China down enough to allow U.S. companies to keep their lead. Meanwhile, opponents say the export controls have loopholes — and could still spur innovation. The emergence of China's DeepSeek AI chatbot in January particularly renewed concerns over how China might use advanced chips to help develop its own AI capabilities.
In April, the White House announced that it would restrict sales of Nvidia's H20 chips to China — as well as MI308 chips from rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices — with the Trump administration again citing national security.
At the time, Nvidia said these tighter export controls would cost the company an extra $5.5 billion — and Huang and other technology leaders have been lobbying Trump to reverse the restrictions since. They've argued that such limits hinder U.S. competition in a sector in one of the world's largest markets for technology and have also warned that U.S. export controls could end up pushing other countries toward China's AI technology.
Monday's announcement from Nvidia signals that its lobbying efforts paid off. White House AI and crypto adviser David Sacks told Bloomberg on Tuesday that allowing Nvidia to restart Chinese sales of its H20 chip would help the U.S. better compete abroad — particularly with Chinese chipmaker Huawei Technologies.
Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Tuesday that the renewed sale of H20 chips in China was linked to a trade agreement made between the two countries on rare earth magnets — and maintained that the administration was also reversing course from April's restrictions because the U.S. still doesn't sell China 'our best stuff.'
Still, calls for restrictions on advanced chip exports to China have persisted among U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Just last week, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks wrote a letter to Huang noting that the hardware powering advanced AI 'is of immense strategic importance' — and again warned that this kind of technology could be used to accelerate Beijing's effort to modernize its military if exported freely. U.S. lawmakers have also proposed that chips subject to export controls should be tracked, to ensure they don't end up in the wrong places.
Beyond export controls, California-based Nvidia — like other tech giants today — has been caught in the crosshairs of Trump's tariff wars abroad, particularly amid America's tit-for-tat levies with China. But Beijing and Washington recently agreed to pull back some non-tariff restrictions. China says it's approving permits for rare earth magnets to be exported to the U.S., while Washington has lifted curbs on chip design software and jet engines.
Nvidia and its CEO have also garnered Trump's favor in recent months. In April, the company announced that it would be producing its AI chips in the U.S. for the first time, starting with more than one million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test its specialized Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas.
Trump was quick to applaud Nvidia's move. He introduced Huang as a 'smart cookie' who was helping bring jobs to the U.S. at an 'Investing in America' event held at the White House later that month.
Similar to Nvidia, AMD is now also poised to restart Chinese sales of its MI308 chips. The California-based company said in a statement that the Commerce Department was moving forward with license applications for these exports to China, and that it plans to resume shipments as those licenses are approved.
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