US will allow Nvidia H200 AI chips to be shipped to China

US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new policy change allowing Nvidia's cutting-edge H200 AI chips to be shipped from the US to China, reversing a Biden-era policy that banned the H200 export to Beijing over national security concerns.

US President Donald Trump announced the new China export policy change on Monday, posting on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“I have informed President Xi of China that the United States will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China and other Countries under conditions that allow for continued strong National Security,” the President wrote in a lengthy post.

Touting the approval of the China’s President, Trump also boasted of the 25% tariff that the US will collect on the chip exports.

“$25% will be paid to the United States of America. This policy will support American Jobs, strengthen US Manufacturing, and benefit American Taxpayers, Trump wrote, also taking the opportunity to take a swipe at former US President Joe Biden’s previous policy banning the H200 export.

“The Biden Administration forced our Great Companies to spend BILLIONS OF DOLLARS building “degraded” products that nobody wanted, a terrible idea that slowed Innovation, and hurt the American Worker. That Era is OVER!" Trump said.

Deal will apply to other chipmakers

Trump said the new policy – now being finalized by the US Commerce Department – will soon apply to other American chipmakers, including AMD, Intel, and more.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has previously said the China chip restrictions simply leave a massive hole to be filled by other foreign competitors, such as the Chinese-owned Huawei.

"Offering H200 to approved commercial customers, vetted by the Department of Commerce, strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America," Nvidia said in a statement released on Monday.

"We applaud President Trump’s decision to allow America’s chip industry to compete to support high-paying jobs and manufacturing in America,” Nvidia said.

Stating the changes “will protect National Security, create American Jobs, and keep America’s lead in AI,” Trump declared his administration “will always put America FIRST.”

Security concerns abound

Nvidia's H200 GPU is the second-most advanced AI chip on the market today, making the “cutting-edge AI technology” subject to export restrictions under the US Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), which prohibits the sale and exporting of sensitive dual-use technology to foreign adversaries.

Trump had been mulling the policy change since last month, despite alarms raised by US lawmakers citing concerns that Beijing plans to use the Nvidia GPUs to beef up its military, test new weapons of mass destruction, and create advanced AI surveillance tools.

Nvidia's most advanced GPU technology is the "Blackwell chips, and soon, Rubin, neither of which as part of this deal," Trump said.

Both NVIDIA's H200 and its less powerful counterpart, the H100, are high-performance data-center GPUs designed for high-performance computing workloads.

Trump did not say if there would be a limit on how many H200 chips would be authorized for shipment, or what other conditions could apply, only that the Commerce Dept. was "finalizing the details."

Before Monday, the most sophisticated Nvidia AI chip China was permitted to import was the H20, which delivers roughly half the performance of the H200.

The White House said the 25% fee would be collected as an import tax on chips made in Taiwan. Before leaving the US, the chips will undergo a security review by US officials, Reuters reported.

The timing coincides with the US Justice Department's announcement of the takedown of a China-linked smuggling ring accused of exporting, and attempting to export, at least $160 million worth of restricted Nvidia H100 and H200 chips in late 2024 and early 2025.

In November, the feds busted up a smaller Nvidia H200 and H100 chip smuggling scheme worth about $4 million, leading to the arrest of two American citizens and two Chinese nationals.

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