US President Donald Trump has cleared the way for Nvidia to sell its advanced H200 AI chip to China, marking a significant relaxation of Washington’s export controls on Chinese technology. Trump said he notified Chinese President Xi Jinping of the decision, which will permit exports to “approved customers” and require that 25 percent of sales revenue be paid to the US government.
Trump said the approach would apply to other chipmakers such as AMD and Intel and touted the move as supporting American jobs, manufacturing and taxpayers. Nvidia described the decision as a “thoughtful balance” that would support high-paying jobs and US manufacturing; its shares rose more than 2 percent in after-hours trading.
The announcement departs from the Biden administration’s tighter controls, which restricted exports by limiting Chinese-bound products to downgraded variants. Trump criticized that policy on Truth Social, saying it forced US firms to spend billions on downgraded products “nobody wanted.” He confirmed that the latest-generation Blackwell chips would remain restricted for China.
The H200, introduced in 2023, is Nvidia’s most powerful chip below the Blackwell series. The Washington-based Institute for Progress estimates it is nearly six times as powerful as the prior-generation H20. Under an earlier August agreement, Nvidia had agreed to remit 15 percent of H20 revenues to the US government for China-targeted sales; the new arrangement applies different terms for the H200.
Analysts point to market forces and lobbying behind the shift. Tilly Zhang of Gavekal Dragonomics said the move reflects a pivot from trying to block China’s tech progress to competing for market share and securing commercial benefits for US firms, which could accelerate innovation and market dynamics on both sides.
The decision drew prompt criticism from Democrats and national security experts. Senator Elizabeth Warren said the administration was “selling out US security,” citing Justice Department probes into illegal chip smuggling to China and DOJ warnings that such chips are “building blocks of AI superiority.” Chris McGuire, a Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow, warned that loosening controls could help Chinese AI firms close the gap with leading US models and enable global “good enough” data centres, undermining US efforts to dominate the AI technology stack.