Nvidia and AMD have received approval from the Trump administration to resume sales of their A.I. chips to China, marking a breakthrough in ongoing export restrictions. The green light follows months of quiet diplomacy by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has taken on a dual role as both tech leader and backchannel diplomat amid rising U.S.-China tensions.
Nvidia announced in a blog post today (July 15) that U.S. officials will begin granting licenses for its H20 chips, which are specifically designed for the Chinese market but caught in an export freeze since April. The company said deliveries will begin soon. Nvidia shares surged more than 4 percent on the news.
AMD, Nvidia’s chief rival, confirmed that it too has secured approval to resume shipments of its China-specific chips, including the MI308 line. Its stock jumped nearly 7 percent in response.
The approvals mark a major reversal after April’s sweeping restrictions, imposed by the Trump administration, barred companies from selling certain advanced semiconductors to China. Those rules left Nvidia facing a $4.5 billion inventory write-down, as it had no alternative buyers for its H20 chips.
Nvidia’s GPUs are critical to powering the large-scale A.I. models that drive everything from chatbots to autonomous systems. The H20, designed to comply with earlier restrictions introduced by the Biden administration, is a lower-performance chip than Nvidia’s popular H100 and H200 chips, but it remains a vital product in Nvidia’s China strategy.
Huang’s influence grows beyond Silicon Valley
The news underscores Huang’s growing influence beyond Silicon Valley. In recent weeks, he’s met with President Trump and other policymakers to advocate for policies that ensure the world continues to rely on American-made A.I. hardware. While Washington seeks to limit China’s military applications of A.I., Huang argued in a recent CNN interview that Chinese forces are unlikely to fully embrace Nvidia’s tech because “they simply can’t rely on it,” given the U.S. government’s ability to cut off access at any time.
The Nvidia chief is currently in Beijing, where he is expected to meet with senior officials including Premier Li Qiang and Vice Premier He Lifeng to reaffirm business ties and present new offerings tailored for the Chinese market. It’s his third first to China this year.
Among those is a newly unveiled chip reportedly built on Nvidia’s next-gen Blackwell architecture. While details remain sparse, the company says the chip is fully compliant with U.S. export regulations and optimized for applications like digital twin A.I. in smart factories and logistics.
