The U.S. can't ignore the Chinese market - approve sales of H200 chips to Chinese brands

The U.S. will let Nvidia ship H200 AI chips to select brands in China, a move that marks a clear turn in the U.S.-China battle. The plan was announced after President Trump said the move would not harm key U.S. plans.

He said that sales can take place for select brands that pass checks by the U.S. Commerce Department. This shows that the U.S. now sees that a full block on top chip tech is hard to hold, as China is still a huge market for AI, cloud storage, and data centers. Both American and Chinese firms were hit hard by the previous ban. This shift is meant to ease some heat while still keeping U.S. limits in place.

At a press meeting, the Chinese foreign envoy said it had seen the news and restated its view that fair, open, two-way work can serve both sides. The tone was calm and in line with past calls from China for clearer rules in chip trade.

It also shows that China wants less risk in this space, since chip flow now links to ties in tech, trade, and broad AI plans. With both sides in a mix of clash and need, even small moves like this tend to send wide waves in the field.

Nvidia said it is glad with the new step and notes that it will help the U.S. chip market and keep the firm strong in the AI race. The H200 is the next part of the Hopper line and builds on the H100 with more memory and faster transfer capacity due to HBM3e tech.

It came out in late 2023 and was built for large AI load, model training, cloud storage, and fast transfer. This shift shows that the U.S. can not walk away from a vast user base like China. With this gap in the ban, U.S. chip firms gain more room to grow while still in line with home rule.