US President Donald Trump has granted Nvidia permission to ship its H200 artificial intelligence chip to China in exchange for a 25% share of sales, a move that represents a major lobbying victory for the world’s most valuable company and could allow it to recoup billions of dollars in lost business in a key global market.
The decision was announced by Trump in a post on his social network Truth Social, ending weeks of deliberations with his advisers on authorization to send the H200 to China. Trump said he informed Chinese President Xi Jinping about the measure and that Xi responded favorably. He added that sales would only be made to “approved customers” and that chipmakers like Intel and AMD would also be eligible.
“We will protect National Security, create American jobs and maintain US leadership in AI,” Trump said in his post. “NVIDIA’s American customers are already moving forward with its incredible, highly advanced Blackwell, and soon, Rubin chips, neither of which are part of this deal,” referring to Nvidia’s more advanced lines of chips.
Permission to export the H200 is seen as a compromise on Nvidia’s previous attempt to sell its more advanced Blackwell design chips to Chinese customers, according to a person familiar with the matter before the announcement.
Spokespeople for the Commerce Department and Nvidia did not immediately comment on Trump’s post.
A previous deal touted by Trump, in which Nvidia and AMD would pay a percentage of revenue from AI chips sold in China, did not result in payments because no regulations were established that would make it legal. Beijing’s opposition to these exports and the resulting lack of demand from Chinese customers have made this issue moot.
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Allowing sales of the H200 in China represents a victory for Nvidia in its attempt to convince Trump and Congress to relax export controls that prevent the company from selling its AI chips in the world’s second-largest economy. Huang has built a close relationship with Trump since the November 2024 election and has used those ties to argue that restrictions only strengthen domestic Chinese champions like Huawei.
After meeting with Trump on Wednesday, Huang expressed uncertainty about the acceptance of H200 chips in China if the US relaxes restrictions. “We don’t know. We have no idea,” Huang said as he entered a closed meeting with members of the Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over export controls. “We can’t degrade the chips we sell to China — they wouldn’t accept that.”
This summer, Nvidia won approval to sell its less powerful H20 chip, designed to fall below existing export limits, but China immediately directed domestic customers to avoid the product and rely on processors made by Chinese companies, effectively blocking the American company from the country’s data center market.
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Trump even considered selling a reduced version of the Blackwell chip to China, his main geopolitical rival, but this did not materialize after his meeting with Xi Jinping in October. Members of Trump’s cabinet, including U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, later said they would not support selling a version of the Blackwell to China at the current time.
Last month, Huang said China represents a $50 billion market for Nvidia, although the company has excluded China data center revenue from its financial forecasts for now. “We would love to have the opportunity to re-engage the Chinese market,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Last week, Nvidia scored another victory in Congress, where lawmakers removed a provision from must-pass defense legislation that would have limited the company’s ability to sell its advanced AI chips to China and other adversary nations. The so-called GAIN AI Act would require chipmakers including Nvidia and AMD to prioritize American customers for their powerful chips before selling to China and other countries under an arms embargo.
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Any easing of export restrictions would represent a significant change in policies imposed since 2022 to prevent Beijing and its military from accessing the most powerful American technologies. Such a move would provoke strong opposition from national security advocates in Washington, who see export controls as a way to prevent adversaries like China from advancing in the AI race.
The H200, which began shipping to customers last year, is designed to train and run AI models. The possibility of selling a higher-caliber processor to China reinforced the arguments of lawmakers from both parties who tried unsuccessfully to pass the GAIN AI Act. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the banking committee, warned that allowing the sale of the H200 to China would “turbocharge Chinese military power and undermine American technological leadership.”
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
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