The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has launched an internal review that could pave the way for the first shipments of Nvidia’s second-most powerful artificial intelligence chips to China, according to five sources familiar with the matter.
The move would follow Trump’s recent pledge to allow sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, subject to a 25% fee collected by the U.S. government. Trump has said the policy would help U.S. companies maintain an edge over Chinese chipmakers by reducing demand for domestically produced Chinese alternatives.
The review process is being overseen by the U.S. Commerce Department, which has sent export license applications for the proposed chip shipments to the State Department, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, the sources said. Under U.S. export regulations, those agencies have up to 30 days to weigh in, with the final decision resting with Trump if disagreements arise.
The start of the inter-agency licensing review has not been previously reported.
The proposed sales have sparked backlash from China hawks across the U.S. political spectrum, who argue that allowing advanced AI chips into China could strengthen Beijing’s military capabilities and undermine the United States’ technological advantage in artificial intelligence.
Despite the controversy, Trump has defended the policy shift, arguing that permitting limited chip exports would discourage Chinese technology firms from accelerating efforts to compete with leading U.S. chipmakers.
According to a Reuters report last week, Nvidia has been considering increasing production of the H200 chips after initial orders from China exceeded current manufacturing capacity. The H200 chip is the immediate predecessor to Nvidia’s flagship Blackwell processors and remains widely used in the AI industry, despite being slower at some tasks than newer models.
Sales of the H200 to China had previously been banned under U.S. export controls. Trump had earlier signaled openness to approving sales of a less-advanced version of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips but later reversed course, approving potential exports of the H200 instead.
Several officials within the Trump administration, led by White House artificial intelligence adviser David Sacks, have argued that exporting advanced AI chips to China could slow the rise of competitors such as Huawei by limiting their incentive to invest heavily in rival chip designs.
The Commerce Department and Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A White House spokesperson declined to comment directly on the review but said the administration was “committed to ensuring the dominance of the American tech stack – without compromising on national security.”
Trump’s approach marks a significant departure from policies during his first term in office, when his administration imposed sweeping restrictions on Chinese access to U.S. technology, citing concerns over intellectual property theft and military applications. China has consistently denied those allegations.
