President Donald Trump says he has reached an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to allow US chip giant Nvidia to export its H200 artificial intelligence chips to approved customers in China, marking a sharp reversal of Biden-era export controls.
The Biden administration had heavily restricted exports of advanced AI chips over fears they could fuel Chinese military and security applications, forcing companies to design weaker, “degraded” chips for the Chinese market.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he informed Xi that Washington would allow Nvidia to ship H200 chips to “approved customers in China, and other countries, under conditions that allow for continued strong national security.”
“President Xi responded positively! 25 per cent will be paid to the United States of America,” Trump wrote, without explaining how such a payment mechanism would work.
He blasted his predecessor’s approach, saying it “forced our Great Companies to spend BILLIONS OF DOLLARS building ‘degraded’ products that nobody wanted, a terrible idea that slowed Innovation, and hurt the American Worker.”
Under Biden-era rules, the H200 and other cutting-edge chips were barred from export to China, and firms instead sold slower, less capable variants tailored to stay below US performance thresholds.
Nvidia welcomed the shift. “We applaud President Trump’s decision to allow America’s chip industry to compete to support high paying jobs and manufacturing in America,” a company spokesperson told AFP.
“Offering H200 to approved commercial customers, vetted by the Department of Commerce, strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America,” the spokesperson added.
Trump said his decision aims to “support American Jobs, strengthen US manufacturing, and benefit American taxpayers,” while stressing that Nvidia’s most advanced Blackwell chips and its forthcoming Rubin processors are not part of the deal and remain reserved for US customers. The H200s are roughly 18 months behind the company’s cutting-edge offerings.
The chips, high-end graphic processing units, or GPUs, power the training of AI models that underpin the generative AI boom triggered by the launch of ChatGPT in 2022.
The Commerce Department is now finalising implementation details. Trump said “the same approach will apply to AMD, Intel, and other GREAT American Companies.”
The move comes amid ongoing trade and technology tensions between Washington and Beijing, as both race for dominance in AI and other strategic sectors.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had lobbied the White House intensely to roll back the Biden-era curbs, despite strong opposition in Washington to granting Chinese firms access to more powerful chips.
