Trump Administration Eases Nvidia H200 Chip Exports to China

The administration of Donald Trump shifted U.S. policy in January 2026 to ease restrictions on advanced AI exports, granting approval in principle for Nvidia Corporation to sell H200 processors to China. Despite this, shipments have faced delays as the U.S. Department of Commerce requires license applications to undergo reviews by the departments of State, Defense, and Energy. While the Commerce Department completed its analysis, the State Department has pushed for stricter restrictions to prevent the chips from undermining national security.

In early February, the Chinese government approved the purchase of over 400,000 H200 chips by tech giants ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent, with total demand reportedly exceeding two million units. The H200 provides approximately six times the performance of its predecessor, the H20 chip, making it critical for China's AI data center expansion. Following a visit to China by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Chinese firms began placing orders, though some subsequently paused as they awaited clarity on U.S. licensing conditions.

The U.S. government has signaled willingness to grant licenses provided specific national security conditions are met, including a "Know Your Customer" (KYC) requirement to block military access. Nvidia has argued that these conditions must be commercially practical to prevent Chinese buyers from switching to foreign alternatives. Meanwhile, the policy shift has drawn sharp criticism from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who compared the sales to selling nuclear weapons to North Korea.