US tech giant Nvidia will start selling its H20 AI chip in China again after the Trump administration relaxed export restrictions.
The White House gave assurances that it would grant licenses for the product in the Chinese market, the firm said on Tuesday in a blog post.
The move is a U-turn for the government, which in April banned sales of the chip to China, linked to concerns that the technology could be used for military purposes. At the time, Nvidia said it had been told that the export control would stay in place for the “indefinite future".
Nvidia claimed in May that it had taken a $4.5 billion (€3.8bn) inventory cost hit in the April quarter because of the restrictions and added that it had missed out on an additional $2.5bn (€2.1bn) in sales. The announcement temporarily sent its share price plunging.
The H20 chip was specifically designed for the Chinese market, in line with restrictions introduced by former president Joe Biden in 2023.
When in office, Trump overhauled the Biden-era curbs but imposed restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 AI chip.
On Tuesday, Nvidia also announced a new China-specific AI chip it said was “fully compliant” with export rules.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has spent months lobbying in both the US and China.
Huang argued that Trump’s restrictions were a “failure” in the sense that they were boosting China’s AI capabilities, notably as the market could no longer rely on American products.
Exports of the chip do, however, help Chinese AI companies like DeepSeek, that use Nvidia chips to create their products.
The breakthrough comes as relations between Washington and Beijing have thawed in recent weeks.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration threatened a 145% duty on Chinese goods sent to the US, and Beijing responded with a 125% retaliatory tariff. The two sides decided to lower these taxes in May, and then agreed on a trade framework last month.
The trade agreement seeks to ease restrictions on exports of raw materials and other critical technologies. Throughout earlier talks, Donald Trump had nonetheless suggested that curbs on the H20 AI chip wouldn’t be relaxed as part of the framework. Both China and the US are seeking to find a permanent solution to replace the temporary trade truce before a 12 August deadline.
Nvidia’s Huang is currently in Beijing to hold talks with government officials, after meeting with President Trump last week.
The CEO also announced plans to create a new graphics processing unit, the RTX PRO, for the Chinese market, which he said is fully compliant with US export controls.
