Trump Approves Nvidia Chip Exports to China
On Monday, President Trump announced that the U.S. government will permit the export of Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, with a fee applied to each chip sold.
Following Trump’s statement on Truth Social, Nvidia, considered the most valuable company worldwide, saw its shares increase by 1.2% in after-hours trading, eventually closing 3.16% higher. This marks the first indication regarding the possible approval for exporting these chips.
In his announcement, Trump mentioned that he conveyed this decision to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who responded positively, as per Trump’s post.
Trump also specified that 25% of the profits from these exports will benefit the United States.
He indicated that the Commerce Department is wrapping up the details of this agreement, with a similar arrangement expected for other AI chip manufacturers like Advanced Micro Devices and Intel.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump emphasized commitments to national security, job creation, and maintaining American leadership in AI. He noted that Nvidia’s customers in the U.S. are engaged in developing the advanced Blackwell chip and will be soon working on Rubin, which are not included in this export deal.
The authorization to ship these chips might indicate a softer tone toward China following a truce in the ongoing trade and technology tensions, reached between Trump and Xi in Busan, South Korea, in late October.
Officials view this action as a compromise: it permits the export of Nvidia’s latest chips while still denying Chinese access to Blackwell chips, which Trump had previously prohibited. The concern is that not sending any chips at all could enable Huawei to strengthen its position in the Chinese market.
Nvidia and the Department of Commerce did not respond to inquiries for comments.
Concerns About Military Implications
Some U.S. officials express worries that selling advanced AI chips to China could bolster its military capabilities, which led the Biden administration to introduce initial export restrictions.
Reportedly, the Trump administration had considered approving these sales as early as last month.
Previous export approvals in the 2000s received significant backlash from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who advocated for protecting U.S. technological supremacy. She claimed that after a private meeting with Trump and a donation to his event, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang pushed for selling these powerful chips to China. Warren argued this could accelerate China’s technology and military ambitions, compromising U.S. economic and national security.
The H200 chip, launched two years ago, features more high-bandwidth memory than its predecessor, the H100, leading to faster data processing capabilities.
According to a recent report by the Institute for Progress, a nonpartisan think tank, the H200 will be nearly six times more powerful than the H20, the most advanced AI chip previously eligible for export to China, following a temporary ban’s lifting earlier this year.
Allowing these chips to be exported will enable China’s AI research institutions to develop supercomputers capable of performance on par with the leading AI systems in the United States, although at a higher cost.
This decision comes against the backdrop of China’s stricter export controls on rare earth minerals essential for high-tech product manufacturing. Earlier this year, Trump had threatened to impose new restrictions on high-tech exports to China, though he later opted against such measures.
