U.S. plans to approve export of Nvidia’s H200 chip to China

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—The Trump administration plans to let Nvidia export its H200 chip to China, the latest twist in the artificial-intelligence chip designer’s efforts to maintain access to the world’s second-largest economy, according to people familiar with the matter. The Commerce Department plans to approve licenses to China letting Nvidia sell its H200.

The chip has higher performance than the H20 it was previously allowed to sell—but it isn’t as powerful as the company’s top Blackwell products released this year nor the Rubin generation of chips coming next year, one of the people said. Semafor previously reported the expected approval. The move follows a meeting between President Trump and Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang last week, where the pair discussed H200 exports, people familiar with the matter said.

Nvidia shares added more than 1%. Administration officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio torpedoed a push from Nvidia to sell a slimmed down Blackwell chip to China before a recent trade meeting between Trump and China’s Xi Jinping. Some officials including AI Czar David Sacks and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have backed exporting the H200 because it could be a good compromise that allows Nvidia to compete with China’s Huawei Technologies without vaulting China past the U.S.

in AI, people familiar with the discussions said. Earlier this year, the Trump administration approved H20 exports to China in exchange for 15% of the sales going to the U.S. government, only for China to tell its companies not to use the chips because of alleged security concerns.