After many months of continuous movement and public warnings about the risk of losing the world's largest market, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has finally achieved what he expected. The US government has approved Nvidia's export of the H200 AI chip to China, a move that marks a turning point in its technology curbs against Beijing.
US President Donald Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform on December 8 that Washington will allow Nvidia to export H200 products to approved customers in China and other countries. The US Department of Commerce is finalizing the final details.
Although Trump's Truth Social post said that 25% of the value of chip sales will be paid to the US government, the market still reacted positively: Nvidia shares increased by 1.2% in the after-hours trading session.
President Trump argued that the new policy would support jobs for Americans, strengthen domestic production and benefit taxpayers, while criticizing the previous administration for forcing technology corporations to produce depreciated versions that no one wanted. President Trump also said that this approach will be applied similarly to AMD, Intel and other US technology companies.
An Nvidia spokesperson said the company welcomed President Trump's decision, calling it a reasonable balance between international competition and domestic economic benefits. According to Nvidia, providing H200 to commercial customers has been assessed by the Ministry of Commerce as a good direction for the US.
The move to loosen export control also reflects the importance of the Chinese market. Veteran telecommunications expert Ma Ke Hoa commented in Chinese press that many years of technology limitations have accelerated the Chinese domestic chip industry and if Nvidia is eliminated from this market for a few more years, even the company's most advanced chips will risk losing their competitive advantage over Chinese competitors.
Meanwhile, US media assessed that the H200 export license will help Nvidia recover billions of dollars in lost sales in one of the most important markets. For months, Jensen Huang and Nvidia's leadership have worked continuously with the Washington government and the US Congress to mobilize looser control, especially as restrictions have caused the company's AI chip sales in China to fall to zero for two consecutive quarters.
At an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Mr. Huang analyzed US-China AI competition according to the 5-storey model, emphasizing that this race should not be viewed as a simplified ChatGPT vs DeepSeek model, but should be viewed as an entire complex technology ecosystem.
Not only Nvidia, other US chipmakers are also looking to maintain their position in the Chinese market. AMD said it has been licensed to sell some MI308 chips to China and is ready to pay the US government 15% of its revenue if it exports the shipment.
When asked about the above information, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lam Kien emphasized that Beijing has repeatedly clarified its stance and hoped that Washington would take practical action to keep the global supply chain stable and smooth.
The sudden easing of the US has caused the US-China technology race to enter a new chapter: While competitive, be wary of the risks of pushing up opponents, but be forced to maintain linkages with the world's largest market to protect the interests of domestic enterprises.
