US President Donald Trump and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia / REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
His government officials Donald Trump are in the early stages of discussions about whether to allow the Nvidia to sell its H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, according to sources cited by Bloomberg, a potential move that would mark a major win for the world’s most valuable company.
Donald Trump’s team has held internal discussions about shipments of Nvidia chips to the Asian country in recent days, the sources said. No final decision has been made, they stressed, and it’s entirely possible the idea will remain an internal discussion and never lead to actual permit approvals, which are required under export controls first imposed by Washington in 2022.
However, the fact that the H200 shipment is being considered is a significant departure from the Trump administration’s previous public positions on semiconductor export controls. It would also be a concession to Beijing that would almost certainly provoke widespread backlash from China hardliners in Washington.
Representatives for the White House, Nvidia and the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.