US President Trump announced on Truth Social that he approved NVIDIA to export AI processors H200 to China, with an additional 25% fee on each H200 sale, which must undergo a complete review by the US Department of Commerce. This chip's performance far exceeds the export threshold set by the US in the past, making it the first high-end AI processor approved for export since the upgrade of export restrictions in 2022. However, it is still uncertain whether China will allow enterprises to procure H200, and the overall policy adjustment is seen as an important turning point in US-China technology regulation.
Trump approves H200 for export to China, with an additional 25% fee.
Trump stated that he has approved the export of H200 to China. According to US requirements, for every H200 sold by NVIDIA, an additional 25% fee must be paid to the US government, effectively acting as a tariff, and it can only be sold to Chinese customers deemed 'passed review' by the US government.
Trump added that he personally informed Chinese President Xi Jinping of this decision, and Xi had a very positive reaction to it.
According to a White House official, this 25% fee will be charged in the form of 'taxes on imports from Taiwan to the US.' H200 is manufactured in Taiwan, so the chips need to be sent to the US first, where they will undergo a safety review by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) before being re-exported to China after confirming their use.
H200 has been approved for release, with performance far exceeding the export restriction threshold.
H200 belongs to the NVIDIA Hopper series, which is more advanced than H20. The H200 uses the Hopper architecture and can provide a GPU with 141 GB of HBM3e memory at a speed of 4.8 TB per second, nearly twice the capacity of the H100 GPU, with memory bandwidth increased by 1.4 times.
This direct release of H200 by the Trump administration makes it the first AI processor approved for export by the US that far exceeds the established restriction standards.
It is undecided whether China will procure it, and the authorities are still observing.
Although the US has officially approved it, it remains unclear whether China will actually allow enterprises to procure H200. According to the Financial Times, the Chinese government is discussing whether to require companies to apply to use H200 or to restrict the adoption of such high-end GPUs in certain fields.
The previous Chinese government had requested state-owned enterprises to avoid purchasing NVIDIA H20, so it is still unclear whether China will change its policy on NVIDIA GPUs.
The release of H200 marks a turning point, with US technology export controls beginning to loosen.
According to Bloomberg Economics, Trump's approval of H200 exports marks the most significant policy shift since the US strengthened technology export controls in 2022. Research suggests that this move could affect the direction of China's AI technology development and complicate the trajectory of the US-China tech war.
Although the US still prohibits the export of more powerful Blackwell and Rubin series, the release of H200 also symbolizes a loosening of US technology export controls.
(Jensen Huang's lobbying was effective, and chip export restrictions to China are not included in the US defense bill)
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