U.S. President Trump has granted NVIDIA the green light to export its H200 AI chips to China. However, this approval comes with stringent conditions: the U.S. government will levy a 25% royalty on all sales, and the chips can only be sold to 'pre-approved customers'. Besides NVIDIA, other semiconductor giants such as Intel and AMD are also eligible to apply for licenses to sell their chips in the Chinese market.

This move is widely regarded as a significant triumph for NVIDIA's lobbying endeavors and is anticipated to aid the company in recouping billions of dollars in lost business in China. Previously, NVIDIA had been pushing for permission to sell its more advanced Blackwell chips. The approval to export the H200 chips can thus be viewed as a compromise solution.

Since the U.S. presidential election in November 2024, NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, has fostered a close rapport with President Trump. Huang has expressed his belief that stringent export controls will ultimately serve to benefit China's leading domestic tech firms. As of the time of reporting, neither the U.S. Department of Commerce nor NVIDIA has issued any official statements regarding this matter.