China Seeks to Limit Access to Nvidia's H200 Chips Despite Trump's Green Light, as AI Self-Sufficiency Weighs On

Regulators in Beijing are exploring ways to allow only restricted access to Nvidia's H200 chips — the company's second-best generation of artificial intelligence processors — even after President Donald Trump signaled support for renewed exports to China.

According to people familiar with the discussions, as reported by the Financial Times, Chinese regulators have been weighing an approval regime that would require buyers to submit detailed purchase requests and explain why domestic chips cannot meet their needs. No final decision has been made, the people said.

Trump announced on Monday via Truth Social that he told Chinese President Xi the U.S. would permit Nvidia to ship its H200 chips to "approved customers" in China, under conditions meant to preserve national security. He added that the U.S. would receive a 25% cut from such sales, though he provided no details. Xi "responded positively," Trump wrote.

The H200 and other advanced chips had been barred from export to China under the Biden administration due to concerns they could be used for military purposes. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has lobbied aggressively for the restrictions to be eased, while advocates of controlled exports argue that access would maintain China's reliance on U.S. technology.

Still, Trump's position faces resistance in Congress. A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation that would block approval of chip exports — including the H200 — to China for 30 months. Washington could also implement its own vetting process, allowing sales only to companies it deems "safe," people familiar with the matter said.

China, meanwhile, has leaned on the U.S. ban to accelerate its domestic semiconductor ambitions. Regulators — chiefly the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology — have been promoting homegrown alternatives, stepping up customs checks, and offering data-center energy subsidies tied to the use of domestic chips. They are also considering measures such as banning public-sector procurement of the H200.

Beijing has already limited access to Nvidia's H20 — a lower-performance chip designed for China — arguing its capabilities are not meaningfully better than local alternatives. Nvidia and AMD agreed in August to pay the U.S. government 15% of their China chip-sales revenue, but the H200 is a higher-grade product than the H20.

Trump said the Commerce Department is finalizing export conditions and that the same framework would apply to AMD, Intel and other U.S. chipmakers. Nvidia, in a statement, applauded Trump's decision, saying that offering H200 chips to vetted commercial customers "strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America."

The return of Nvidia's advanced chips would be welcomed by major Chinese tech groups such as Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent, which still prefer Nvidia processors for their superior performance and ease of maintenance. Many have been training AI models abroad to access restricted chips.

Yet Beijing's long-running push for semiconductor self-sufficiency, coupled with geopolitical uncertainty, means China is unlikely to open the door widely. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun reiterated Beijing's position that the two countries should strive for "mutual benefit and win-win results through co-operation."