US President Donald Trump has approved NVIDIA’s export of its H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, but with an additional 25% surcharge. This move is expected to enable the world’s most valuable company to recover billions of dollars in losses from an important global market.
Trump posted on his “Truth Social” to announce the decision, ending weeks of negotiations with his advisers over whether to allow the export of H200 chips to China. He also added that the H200 chip would only be exported to “approved customers”, and chip manufacturers such as Intel Corporation and AMD Corporation also met the export conditions.
This move marks Nvidia’s victory in pushing Trump and Congress to ease export controls. Previously, these regulatory measures have been hindering the company from selling its artificial intelligence chips to the world’s largest semiconductor market, the United States. Since the November 2024 election, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has established a close relationship with Trump and used these connections to argue that the restrictive measures would only support domestic Chinese enterprises such as Huawei.
Trump’s decision immediately drew strong opposition from Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren. Warren warned that providing Beijing with the tools it needs to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence would cause “huge economic and national security losses”. Theoretically speaking, the H200 is at least one generation ahead of any product offered by Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei, Cambricon Technologies and Moore Wire. At present, China’s demand for chips has also exceeded the supply capacity of domestic enterprises. Despite this, Beijing has been strongly opposed to the adoption of NVIDIA’s products in the past in an effort to reduce its reliance on American technology, especially in state-owned enterprises and institutions.
Trump wrote in the post: “We will safeguard national security, create American jobs, and maintain America’s leading position in the field of artificial intelligence.” He also mentioned that NVIDIA’s more advanced chip series – Blackwell and Rubin – are advancing related work. Bloomberg reported last month that the US government is considering approving the H200 project.
A person familiar with the matter said before the announcement was made that allowing the export of H200 chips was seen as a compromise in NVIDIA’s previous plan to sell its more advanced Blackwell chips to the Chinese market. Last week, Huang Rengxun met privately with Trump in Washington to discuss export control issues, but neither the White House nor NVIDIA disclosed the details of the talks.
According to an official from the US Department of Commerce, when chips manufactured in Taiwan are transported to the United States for security review by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce, the US government will impose a 25% tariff. As part of the security review, these chips will then be transported to Chinese customers.
Nvidia welcomed the decision, saying it would “help support high-paying jobs and manufacturing in the United States.” Providing H200 to qualified commercial customers audited by the Department of Commerce is a well-considered balance for the United States.
Spokespeople for Intel, AMD and the US Department of Commerce did not comment immediately. Representatives of China’s Ministry of Commerce also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
After Trump announced the relevant policies, the share prices of NVIDIA and AMD both rose by about 2% in late trading. Intel’s share price, which is not expected to benefit from these changes in the short term, rose by less than 1%.
The United States has approved NVIDIA’s export of H200 chips to China, marking the most significant shift in the country’s technology and export control policies to date and potentially reshaping the trajectory of China’s artificial intelligence development. The White House decided on Monday to allow the chipmaker to sell H200 chips to China. In exchange, the US government will receive 25% of the revenue from each sale. After the announcement, Nvidia’s share price rose by more than 2% and climbed again in after-hours trading after confirmation by the White House.
After meeting with Trump on Wednesday, Huang Rengxun said he was unsure whether China would accept NVIDIA’s H200 chips if the United States relaxed its sales restrictions on NVIDIA’s H200 processors.
“We don’t know. We know nothing,” said Mr. Huang as he headed to a closed-door meeting with members of the Senate Banking Committee. The committee has jurisdiction over export control. “We cannot lower the quality of the chips sold to China – they won’t accept it.” “
