President Donald Trump said Monday he had reached an agreement with President Xi Jinping to allow US chip giant Nvidia to export advanced artificial intelligence chips to China.
The announcement marked a significant shift in US export policy for advanced AI chips, which Joe Biden's administration had heavily restricted over national security concerns about Chinese military applications.
Democrats in Congress quickly dismissed the shift as a huge mistake that will help the Chinese military and economy.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had informed Xi that Washington would permit Nvidia to ship its H200 products to "approved customers in China, and other countries, under conditions that allow for continued strong National Security."
"President Xi responded positively! $25% will be paid to the United States of America," Trump wrote, without providing details on how the payment mechanism would work.
Trump criticized 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."
This referred to the Biden administration's requirement for chip companies to create modified, less powerful versions specifically for the Chinese market.
These chips had reduced capabilities — lower processing speeds, for example — to comply with export control regulations.
Under Biden-era restrictions, the H200 and similar advanced chips were blocked from export to China.
"We applaud President Trump's decision to allow America's chip industry to compete to support high paying jobs and manufacturing in America," an Nvidia spokesperson told AFP.
"Offering H200 to approved commercial customers, vetted by the Department of Commerce, strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America."
– Not Blackwell –
The president said his decision aims to "support American Jobs, strengthen U.S. Manufacturing, and benefit American Taxpayers."
Trump emphasized that Nvidia's most advanced chips — the Blackwell series and forthcoming Rubin processors — are not included in the agreement and remain available only to US customers.
The H200s are roughly 18 months behind the company's state-of-the-art offerings.
The chips — graphic processing units or GPUs — are used to train the AI models that are the bedrock of the generative AI revolution launched with the release of ChatGPT in 2022.
The Commerce Department is finalizing implementation details, with Trump saying "the same approach will apply to AMD, Intel, and other GREAT American Companies."
The announcement comes amid trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, as the two compete for dominance in artificial intelligence technology.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang lobbied the White House intensely to reverse the Biden-era policy despite considerable opposition in Washington to giving Chinese companies access to powerful chips.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, attributed the deal to a "backroom meeting" with Trump and Huang's company's donation to build the East Wing ballroom at the White House.
She said this would "turbocharge China's military and undercut American technological leadership."
She and other senior Democrats in the Senate issued a separate statement calling Trump's decision is "a colossal economic and national security failure."
"Access to these chips would give China's military transformational technology to make its weapons more lethal, carry out more effective cyberattacks against American businesses and critical infrastructure and strengthen their economic and manufacturing sector," these lawmakers said.
Alex Stapp, of the Washington-based Institute for Progress, called the policy a "massive own goal," with the H200 "6x more powerful than the H20, which was previously the most powerful chip approved for export."
The US-China chip war in dates
Beijing (AFP) Dec 9, 2025 –
As President Donald Trump says the United States has agreed that chip giant Nvidia can sell AI semiconductors to China, AFP runs down the tussle over the key tech:
Aug 2022: Biden's Chips Act
Joe Biden, then US president, signs a bill to boost domestic chipmaking — an industry Washington fears China could come to dominate through mammoth state-backed investments.
His Chips and Science Act includes $52 billion to boost the production of microchips, which are vital to almost all modern machinery.
Oct 2022: Export controls
Washington restricts exports to China of some advanced chips used to train and power artificial intelligence, on national security grounds.
It also toughens controls on the sale of chipmaking equipment. China says the country is trying to "maliciously block and suppress Chinese businesses".
In December, the US blacklists 36 Chinese companies — many with close ties to China's defence sector — severely limiting their use of US chip manufacturing tech and designs.
Oct 2023: Tighter curbs
A year later, with OpenAI's ChatGPT and other generative AI tools booming in popularity, Washington tightens the screws.
Attention has so far been focused on Nvidia's industry-leading H100 chip, but the government widens export curbs to other, lower-performing semiconductors.
Dec 2024 – Jan 2025: Biden's final moves
Ahead of Trump's return to the White House, Biden imposes a series of new rules on advanced chip exports to China.
"The US leads the world in AI now — both AI development and AI chip design — and it's critical that we keep it that way," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says.
One rule requires authorisations for re-exports and in-country transfers, a bid to avert any circumvention of chip supply to China.
Jan 2025: DeepSeek shock
Chinese startup DeepSeek stuns the AI industry with the launch of a low-cost, high-quality chatbot — a challenge to US ambitions to lead the world in developing the technology.
Apr 2025: Nvidia's H20 blocked
Nvidia has developed new H20 semiconductors — a less powerful version of its AI processing units designed specifically for export to China.
But the company says Washington has required it to obtain licences to ship H20s to China over concerns they may be used in supercomputers.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang campaigns against the moves, saying he is "willing to continue to plough deeply into the Chinese market".
May 2025: Trump eases rules
The Trump administration rescinds some Biden-era chip export controls, answering calls from countries who say they are shut out from crucial technology needed to develop AI.
Sep 2025: 'Nanoseconds behind'
In July, Nvidia says it will resume H20 sales to China because the US government has said it will grant it a licence to do so.
But soon Beijing reportedly bars Chinese firms from buying them — pushing companies to choose domestically produced chips instead.
Nvidia's Huang warns in September that the combination of US curbs and Beijing's policies will fuel the rise of China's chip industry.
"They're nanoseconds behind us," he said. "So we've got to go compete."
Dec 2025: Trump-Xi agreement
Trump says he has reached an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to allow Nvidia to ship H200 chips — a higher-end product than the H20 — to "approved customers in China".
Trump cites "conditions that allow for continued strong National Security" and citicises Biden's approach to the chip war.
Nvidia's most advanced chips — the Blackwell series and forthcoming Rubin processors — are not included in the agreement and remain available only to US customers.
H200s are roughly 18 months behind the company's most state-of-the-art offerings.
