The US decision to allow Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chips to China, despite unprecedented regulations, is raising concerns about the country's security and technological standing.
Chinese technology companies have ordered more than 2 million Nvidia H200 chips - Photo: REUTERS
According to Reuters, on January 13, the administration of US President Donald Trump officially gave the green light for the export of Nvidia's second-generation, powerful AI chip to China.
This move is expected to kickstart the shipment of H200 chips, despite strong opposition from hardline factions against China in Washington.
According to the new regulations, the H200 chip can only be exported after undergoing testing by an independent laboratory to verify its technical capabilities related to AI.
In addition, the total number of chips sold to China must not exceed 50% of Nvidia's total output supplied to customers in the US, and the company must ensure a stable supply of H200 chips for the domestic market.
For the Chinese side, businesses purchasing chips are required to implement "effective security procedures" and commit to not using the products for military purposes. These are unprecedented control conditions.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced that Washington would allow the sale of AI chips to China in exchange for a fee equivalent to 25% of the revenue paid to the U.S. government .
The decision quickly drew criticism from many hardline lawmakers, who feared it would boost Beijing's military capabilities and diminish the U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence.
Jay Goldberg, an analyst at Seaport Research, believes the new export quotas are merely a compromise aimed at curbing Nvidia's sales in China, but will be difficult to enforce in practice.
"This is like a temporary bandage to cover up the huge gaps in the US export control policy," he assessed.
Previously, security concerns led the Joe Biden administration to impose a ban on the sale of advanced AI chips to China.
However, the Trump administration—under the direction of White House AI czar David Sacks—argued that allowing chip exports would discourage Chinese rivals, such as Huawei, from accelerating their own chip development efforts to catch up with designs from Nvidia or AMD.
Chinese technology companies have ordered a total of more than 2 million H200 chips, with an average expenditure of approximately $27,000 per company. This figure far exceeds Nvidia's current inventory of 700,000 chips.
When announcing the chip sales plan last month, President Trump asserted that the shipments would be exported "under conditions that ensure the maintenance of sound national security."
Nevertheless, observers remain skeptical about whether the US government can actually impose practical limits on these shipments, and whether Beijing will allow the widespread circulation of these chips domestically.