Asger Risom
A White House move to ease limits on a key U.S. technology export has drawn both industry praise and political pushback.
A White House move to ease limits on a key U.S. technology export has drawn both industry praise and political pushback. The decision centers on a single Nvidia semiconductor — influential in AI development but not the firm’s most cutting-edge design — and is already rippling across diplomatic, economic and national security circles.
Officials signaled that the rollout will be tightly controlled, even as Washington seeks to retain leverage over advanced computing.
Conditional approval
President Donald Trump announced on Monday that his administration will permit Nvidia to sell its H200 chip to “approved customers” in China, according to reporting from the Associated Press. The chip plays a major role in training artificial-intelligence systems, prompting long-running concerns about how such exports could strengthen Beijing’s technological ambitions.
The H200 is less advanced than the company’s flagship Blackwell line and its upcoming Rubin chips, which remain barred from export. Trump said on social media that he had informed Chinese President Xi Jinping of the policy shift, adding that “President Xi responded positively!”
The president framed the move as a boost for U.S. industry, writing that it would “support American Jobs, strengthen U.S. Manufacturing, and benefit American Taxpayers.”
These news come at the tail-end of the Trump Mobile scandal, which critics have labelled a “scam against Americans”.
Industry reaction
Nvidia publicly backed the decision, telling AP the policy supports domestic production while allowing the Commerce Department to screen buyers to “strike a thoughtful balance” between commercial opportunity and national security.
The company’s market value — now around $4.5 trillion — inched higher in after-hours trading after the announcement.
Democratic senators, however, warned that even the H200 could advance China’s military capabilities. In a joint statement cited by AP, they said: “Access to these chips would give China’s military transformational technology to make its weapons more lethal, carry out more effective cyberattacks against American businesses and critical infrastructure, and strengthen their economic and manufacturing sector.”
Security worries
The senators pointed to comments from Chinese AI company DeepSeek, which recently described its limited access to U.S. chips as a major obstacle in competing with firms such as OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, Perplexity and Palantir.
Trump said Commerce officials are also “finalizing the details” for other chipmakers — including AMD and Intel — to pursue overseas sales under similar rules.
The licensing plan highlights the influence Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has developed with the administration, even as critics warn that any opening for China could help bolster its AI sector in ways the Biden administration previously sought to restrict.
Sources: ABC News, Nvidia
