A senior Commerce Department official told Congress that the United States has approved only a limited number of shipments of Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips to China and Hong Kong.
Jeffery Kessler, the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security told lawmakers during a congressional hearing on Tuesday that shipments of Nvidia's H200 processors have remained minimal despite export licenses being issued earlier this year.
"The bottom line is very few shipments against licenses for H200s and equivalents have taken place. It's a very small quantity of chips," Kessler said, according to CNBC. His comments suggest that shipments of Nvidia's H200 chips to China have quietly resumed, although only on a highly restricted basis.
An Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment on Kessler's remarks to CNBC. For more than two years, Nvidia has been navigating increasingly stringent U.S. export controls designed to limit China's access to advanced semiconductor technology that could enhance military capabilities or accelerate artificial intelligence development.
The H200 belongs to Nvidia's Hopper generation of AI accelerators, which preceded the company's latest Blackwell architecture now being deployed by major U.S. technology companies. Although the H200 is no longer Nvidia's most advanced processor, it remains a powerful chip capable of supporting sophisticated AI training and inference workloads.
Because of export restrictions, Nvidia has repeatedly warned investors that revenue from China would likely remain limited. During an appearance on CNBC in May, Chief Executive Jensen Huang said he had advised investors to "expect nothing" from Chinese sales, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding U.S. licensing decisions.
The latest comments from Commerce officials indicate that Washington has not completely closed the door on exports. Instead, the Biden-era licensing framework, maintained under the Trump administration, continues to evaluate applications individually.
Kessler said companies seeking to export H200 chips must undergo a rigorous review process that focuses on national security safeguards. According to the Commerce official, applicants must satisfy government requirements and agree to inspections designed to ensure the chips are used only for approved civilian purposes and remain compliant with export regulations.
"There are cases where we deny the license applications we receive," Kessler told lawmakers, emphasizing that approvals are far from automatic. Export policy has evolved significantly over the past several years as Washington has tightened restrictions on advanced semiconductors destined for China.
In December, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would allow sales of Nvidia's H200 chips to China as part of an arrangement that included a 25% concession, with export licenses subsequently issued earlier this year.
Even with licenses available, however, shipments remain extremely limited. The future of Nvidia's China business also depends on Beijing. Chinese authorities have yet to indicate whether they will permit large-scale imports of the H200 processors, leaving uncertainty for customers seeking access to the chips.
Without greater access to Nvidia's products, Chinese AI developers will increasingly rely on domestically produced alternatives. While Chinese semiconductor companies have made significant progress in developing AI accelerators, many analysts continue to view their offerings as less capable than Nvidia's latest chips for training cutting-edge generative AI models.
