NVIDIA and AMD have received approval from the Trump administration to restore sales of their AI chips to China, marking a breakthrough in ongoing export restrictions. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has played the dual role of a technology leader and a post-squad diplomat amid rising tensions in the United States.
NVIDIA announced in a blog post today (July 15) that U.S. officials will begin licensing its H20 chip, designed specifically for the Chinese market, but has been frozen since April. The company said delivery will begin soon. NVIDIA shares soared more than 4% in the news.
NVIDIA’s chief competitor AMD confirmed it has also received approval to restore its specific Chinese chips, including the MI308 series. Its stock jumped nearly 7%.
The approval was a major reversal after the Trump administration imposed a full-scale restriction, marking a major reversal, prohibiting companies from selling certain premium semiconductors to China. These rules have left NVIDIA facing a $4.5 billion inventory reduction because it has no buyers of other H20 chips.
NVIDIA’s GPU is crucial to a large-scale AI model that powers everything from chatbots to autonomous systems. The H20 is designed to comply with the earlier restrictions proposed by Biden Administration and is lower than NVIDIA’s popular H100 and H200 chips, but remains a crucial product in NVIDIA’s China strategy.
Huang’s influence surpasses Silicon Valley
The news highlights the influence of Huang outside the Yellow Valley. In recent weeks, he has met with President Trump and other policymakers to advocate for policies that ensure the world continues to rely on American-made AI hardware. Despite Washington’s attempt to limit China’s military use of AI, Huang pointed out in a recent CNN interview that Chinese troops are unlikely to fully adopt NVIDIA’s technology because “they can’t rely on it at all,” given that the U.S. government has cut access at any time.
The head of NVIDIA is currently in Beijing and he is expected to meet with Prime Minister Li Qiang and Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng to reaffirm business ties and provide new products tailored to the Chinese market. This is his third time to visit China this year.
Among them, there is a newly unveiled chip, reportedly based on NVIDIA’s next-generation Blackwell architecture. The company said that while details remain small, the chip is fully compliant with U.S. export regulations and is optimized for applications such as digital dual AI in smart factories and logistics.
