U.S. Grants Export Licenses for AI Chips to Chinese Firms

The United States government has granted export licenses to three additional Chinese companies to purchase advanced artificial intelligence chips from Nvidia and AMD. ZTE Kangxun Telecom and server maker Maginfra received approval to buy Nvidia H200 chips, while Zhuhai Hengqin Yunxiang Zhisheng Network Technology, a subsidiary of Kingsoft, was cleared to acquire competing AMD chips. These approvals expand a list of authorized buyers that previously included major internet groups such as Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and JD.com.

Under Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Kessler testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that shipments of H200 chips to China and Hong Kong have begun, though he described the quantity as trivial. This shift follows a December announcement by President Donald Trump that the administration would approve H200 sales in exchange for a 25% cut. The administration maintains that this approach preserves U.S. technological dominance, despite long-standing concerns that such hardware could facilitate China's military modernization.

Representative Gregory Meeks criticized the strategy, arguing that export controls have been used as a tool for broader negotiations. Despite U.S. clearance, actual deliveries remain subject to import reviews by Chinese authorities and a domestic Chinese policy that encourages the adoption of local AI alternatives.