Donald Trump has agreed to allow Nvidia to sell the H200, its second most advanced artificial intelligence chip, to China despite warnings from Capitol Hill that it will supercharge Beijing’s advance in AI technology.
Mr Trump said that the deal, which will require the company to pay 25 per cent of the cost of each chip to the United States treasury, would be extended to other American chip manufacturers.
The H200 processor is about six times faster than the H20, which is currently the most advanced US-made chip Washington approves for export to China.
But Nvidia’s more advanced Blackwell processor and its forthcoming Rubin, which is more powerful still, are not part of the deal.
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“We will protect national security, create American jobs, and keep America’s lead in AI,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
[ China’s tech giants take AI model training offshore to tap Nvidia chipsOpens in new window ]
“The Biden administration 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.”
Joe Biden’s administration imposed export restrictions on advanced chips in an effort to slow China’s progress in semiconductor and AI technology. But voices within the Trump administration have been arguing that by selling more advanced chips to China, the US could make Chinese companies more dependent on US technology and boost American chip manufacturers’ capacity to develop new models.
When the US approved the sale of the H20 chip to China last August, Beijing advised Chinese companies not to use it, warning that it could carry security risks. The government said companies should buy Chinese-made chips instead.
The H200 is more advanced than any AI chips available in China at present, including those made by Chinese manufacturers. But foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun gave a neutral response on Tuesday when asked about Mr Trump’s decision.
“China has always advocated for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes through co-operation between China and the United States,” he said.
Democrats on Capitol Hill criticised the decision to allow Nvidia to sell the H200 chip to China as throwing away the US advantage in critical AI technology.
“The Trump administration’s announcement that it will allow the export of advanced H200 AI chips to China is a colossal economic and national security failure,” Senators Jean Shaheen and Chris Coons from the foreign relations committee and Jack Reed from the armed services committee said in a statement.
“The H200s are vastly more capable than anything China can make and gifting them to Beijing would squander America’s primary advantage in the AI race.”
