The Trump administration has launched a review that could result in the first shipments to China of Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI chips, sources told Reuters.
The U.S. recently eased curbs, allowing export of Nvidia’s H200 processors, its second-best artificial intelligence chips, to be exported to China. The U.S. will be collecting a 25% fee on such sales. Beijing is set to limit access to Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips despite the decision according to The Financial Times.
The decision raised questions about how quickly the U.S. might approve such sales and whether Beijing would allow Chinese firms to purchase the Nvidia chips. The U.S. Commerce Department, which oversees export policy, has sent license applications for the chip sales to the State, Energy and Defense Departments for review, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the process is not public. Those agencies have 30 days to weigh in, according to export regulations.
READ: US eases curbs, will allow certain Nvidia H200 chip segments into China (
An administration official said the review would be thorough and “not some perfunctory box we are checking,” according to Reuters. However, the final decision lies with Trump, under the regulations.
A White House spokesperson said “the Trump administration is committed to ensuring the dominance of the American tech stack – without compromising on national security.”
The Biden administration had imposed restrictions on advanced AI chip sales to China and countries that could be conduits for smuggling into the rival nation, citing national security fears.
The Trump administration’s move is a reversal of previous policies, which drew international attention by cracking down on Chinese access to U.S. technology. Back then, Trump cited claims that Beijing steals American intellectual property and harnesses commercially obtained technology to bolster its military, which Beijing denies.
The decision was criticized by some who believe the chips could enhance Beijing’s military and reduce the U.S. advantage in artificial intelligence.
Exporting large numbers of the chips to China would be “a significant strategic mistake,” said Chris McGuire, a former White House National Security Council official under President Joe Biden and senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations. McGuire said that the chips were “the one thing holding China back in AI.”
“I cannot possibly fathom how the departments of Commerce, State, Energy, and Defense could certify that exporting these chips to China is in the U.S. national security interest,” he said.
However, several members of the Trump administration also argue that shipping advanced AI chips to China discourages Chinese competitors like Huawei from accelerating their efforts to catch up with Nvidia’s and AMD’s advanced chip designs.
Reuters reported last week that Nvidia was considering an increase in production of the H200 due to the high demand from China. While the H200 chips are slower than Nvidia’s Blackwell chips at many AI tasks, they remain in wide use in the industry.