President Trump announces a deal to let Nvidia export advanced H200 AI chips to approved customers in China, reversing Biden-era restrictions
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump announced an agreement to allow US chip giant Nvidia to export advanced artificial intelligence chips to China.
The announcement marks a significant shift from the Biden administration’s policy, which heavily restricted such exports over national security concerns.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he informed President Xi Jinping that Washington would permit Nvidia to ship its H200 products to approved customers.
“President Xi responded positively! $25% will be paid to the United States of America,” Trump wrote, without detailing the payment mechanism.
He criticised his predecessor’s approach for forcing companies to build “degraded” products for the Chinese market.
An Nvidia spokesperson applauded the decision, calling it a thoughtful balance great for America.
Trump emphasised the deal aims to support American jobs, manufacturing, and taxpayers.
He clarified that Nvidia’s most advanced Blackwell and Rubin series chips are not included and remain for US customers only.
The H200 chips are graphic processing units used to train AI models and are roughly 18 months behind Nvidia’s state-of-the-art offerings.
The Commerce Department is finalising implementation details, with Trump saying the same approach will apply to AMD and Intel.
Democrats in Congress quickly dismissed the shift as a huge mistake that will help the Chinese military and economy.
Senator Elizabeth Warren attributed the deal to a “backroom meeting” and said it would turbocharge China’s military.
She and other senior Democrats called Trump’s decision a colossal economic and national security failure.
Analyst Alex Stapp called the policy a “massive own goal,” noting the H200 is six times more powerful than the previously approved H20 chip. – AFP
