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U S Approves Nvidia S Nvda H200 Processor Exports To China Ceo

Bonisiwe Shabane
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u s approves nvidia s nvda h200 processor exports to china ceo

Nvidia has approval from the U.S. government to sell its more advanced H200 AI chips to China. But the question is whether Beijing wants it or will let companies buy it. The company can now ship its H200 chip to "approved customers", provided the U.S. government gets a 25% cut of those sales. It had been effectively banned from selling any semiconductors to China earlier this year, but since July sought to resume H20 sales, a less advanced chip designed specifically to comply with export restrictions.

Reports had suggested Beijing prohibited local companies from buying the H20. Nvidia is not baking in huge China sales into its forecasts as a result. After the ban was lifted, the Financial Times reported China would "limit access" to the H200, citing unidentified sources. Look at what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said this year, and what Chinese tech giants and Beijing have done, and you'll see potential hints as to how this lifting of the ban will... The H200 is one of Nvidia's most advanced chips for training and running AI on the market, but China has been on a drive to wean itself off American technology and boost local semiconductor... Advanced Nvidia AI chips can head back to China after all.

The Department of Commerce will allow Nvidia to ship H200 chips to China, as originally reported by Semafor, to approved customers in the country. The U.S. will take a 25% cut of these sales, CNBC reported. H200 chips are much more advanced than the H20 chips Nvidia developed specifically for the Chinese market, but the company would only be able to send H200s that are roughly 18 months old, Semafor... An Nvidia spokesperson told TechCrunch of the development: “We applaud President Trump’s decision to allow America’s chip industry to compete to support high paying jobs and manufacturing in America. Offering H200 to approved commercial customers, vetted by the Department of Commerce, strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America.”

The news report comes a week after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the decision on exporting these H200 chips to China was in President Donald Trump’s hands. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The U.S. Department of Commerce is about to let Nvidia import its H200 AI GPUs into China, Semafor reports, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.

If true, Nvidia would be able to ship much more capable GPUs to China, enhancing its positions and ensuring dominance of its CUDA software stack. The only question is whether China lets these AI accelerators in, as it previously blocked imports of the weaker H20. The authorization reportedly only covers Nvidia's H200, a processor that originates from 2022, but features formidable performance and comes with 144 GB of HBM3 memory (an important spec for training large AI models), so... When compared to the HGX H20 — specifically designed to meet U.S. export control regulations of 2023 — it still delivers a formidable performance advantage over H20. Although Huawei now offers accelerators and rack-scale systems that can compete against Nvidia's H200 and even GB200 NVL72 systems, many Chinese companies still prefer Nvidia hardware largely because of their reliance on the CUDA-based...

Semafor claims that the decision also reflects an assessment inside the U.S. government that the earlier restrictions did not significantly hinder progress by Chines AI leaders like Alibaba, DeepSeek, or Huawei. These companies continued to release advanced AI models and fill hardware gaps with domestically engineered products, therefore blunting the intended effect of U.S. policy and spreading Chinese AI standards when it comes to hardware, software, and eventually ethics. An avid reader would ask whether the Department of Commerce — a part of the executive branch of the federal government — is overriding laws set in 2023. This is not exactly the case.

The DoC is not formally canceling or rewriting the 2023 export control rules, but it is preparing to apply them far more flexibly. The ECCN 3A090/4A090 framework — which sets performance caps and interconnect thresholds for AI accelerators — remains intact. What is changing is the DoC's willingness to grant licenses for hardware that sits above those limits. By approving Nvidia's H200, the U.S. is effectively raising the practical performance ceiling that China may receive, without altering the existing export rules. Whether or not AMD can receive appropriate indulgences is something that remains to be seen.

The US will allow Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to be exported to China with a 25 percent fee, a policy shift that could redirect global demand toward one of the world’s largest AI markets... The move raises fresh questions about whether enterprise buyers planning 2026 infrastructure upgrades should brace for higher prices or longer lead times if H200 supply tightens again. “We will protect National Security, create American Jobs, and keep America’s lead in AI,” US President Donald Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. Trump stopped short of allowing exports of Nvidia’s fastest chips, however, saying, “Nvidia’s US Customers are already moving forward with their incredible, highly advanced Blackwell chips, and soon, Rubin, neither of which are part... He did not say how many H200 units will be cleared or how export vetting will work, leaving analysts to gauge whether even a partial reopening of the Chinese market could tighten availability for... The U.S.

Department of Commerce has approved export licenses for Nvidia’s advanced H200 AI chips to China, marking a significant shift in trade policy. The U.S. Department of Commerce has granted approval for Nvidia to export its advanced H200 AI chips to customers in China, marking a significant and strategic recalibration of export controls on critical technology. This decision represents a pivotal shift under the current administration, balancing national economic interests with national security imperatives in the U.S.-China tech race. The move provides a sanctioned pathway for Chinese tech firms and research labs to access next-generation artificial intelligence hardware, directly impacting the global competitive landscape for AI development and supercomputing. This approval contrasts sharply with the previous, more restrictive posture that heavily limited sales of Nvidia's highest-performance chips like the H100 and A100.

The Commerce Department's action signifies a nuanced enforcement strategy, potentially allowing exports of slightly downgraded but still advanced chips to maintain U.S. industry revenue while aiming to preserve a performance gap. Granting the H200 export license is a critical deliverable for Nvidia, which relies on the Chinese market for a significant portion of its data center revenue. This matters because it creates a controlled channel for semiconductor trade, attempting to thread the needle between stifling China's progress and crippling a leading American innovator. For AI researchers, data center operators, and geopolitical analysts, the implications are profound. This decision necessitates a close watch on the specific technical specifications and end-user restrictions attached to the approved licenses.

The forecast is for a complex, license-by-license regulatory environment rather than broad embargoes, increasing compliance burdens but offering more flexibility. Decision-makers in the semiconductor industry must now navigate this new, case-by-case reality. The next imperative for the administration is to clearly define and consistently enforce the "red lines" for chip performance to prevent the erosion of America's technological edge. This approval sets a precedent that will shape the future of all high-tech exports in an era of strategic competition. © 2025 Silicon Review LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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