US Consider Allows Nvidia To Sell H200 Chips To China

Illustration of the H200 chip from Nvidia (photo: x @nikkei)

JAKARTA - The administration of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, is considering giving the green light to the sale of the Nvidia H200 artificial intelligence chip (AI) to China. This is known according to a number of sources familiar with the discussion. This move comes amid the easing of tensions between Washington and Beijing, opening up opportunities for more advanced US technology exports to China.

The US Department of Commerce, which oversees export regulations, is currently reviewing changes to policies that previously banned the sale of high-end chips such as H200 to China. However, sources confirmed that the plan could still change at any time.

A White House official declined to comment directly, but stated that the Trump administration remains committed to "securing America's global technology leadership and maintaining national security."

The Commerce Department and Nvidia declined to comment further, although Nvidia insists that current regulations prevent them from offering competitive AI data center chips in the Chinese market a large market that is now increasingly controlled by foreign competitors.

The possibility of relaxing this rule marks a more friendly approach to China, after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a trade and technology war ceasefire agreement at a meeting in Busan last month.

However, the move has also raised concerns from the anti-China hardline group in Washington, which considers that more advanced exports of AI chips could strengthen Beijing's military capabilities. This concern previously prompted the Biden administration to set strict limits on cutting-edge semiconductor exports.

On the other hand, following China's aggressive use of rare-earth mineral export controls that are important for the production of various technological devices, Trump had threatened to impose new restrictions on technology exports into China. Even so, most of the threats were later canceled.

The Nvidia H200 chip, announced two years ago, comes with a larger high bandwidth memory than its predecessor, H100, so it can process data much faster. The chip is estimated to be twice as powerful as Nvidia H20's most advanced AI chip which is currently still legally exported to China after the Trump administration scrapped a temporary ban on its sales earlier this year.

Earlier this week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang who Trump once called a Great guy was present as a guest at the White House during the visit of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

Meanwhile, the US Commerce Department also announced it had approved deliveries of up to 70,000 units of Nvidia Blackwell chip equivalents, Nvidia's next generation AI chip, to Humain in Saudi Arabia and G42 in the United Arab Emirates.