Three months after shutting down Nvidia’s AI intelligence chip sales to China, the Trump administration has reversed course.On Monday, the Silicon Valley company said the US government had approved sales of a China-specific AI chip known as H20. Nvidia will still need licencing approval from US government to fulfill those orders, but the Trump administration “has assured Nvidia that licences will be granted,” the company said.The decision came after Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, met last Thursday with President Trump. Huang has spent months lobbying politicians across Washington to keep China open for AI chip sales. China has the potential to deliver billions of dollars in sales for the world’s most valuable public company, which last week became the first to reach a $4 trillion valuation. Huang has also visited China several times this year, including a trip to Beijing this week where he is scheduled to give a news conference on Wednesday.Commerce department and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The reversal has major implications for the race between the US and China to develop AI. It will allow Chinese tech companies to restart purchases of Nvidia’s chips, regarded as ideal for running some of the calculations that power AI. Nvidia was slated to collect as much as $15 billion from sales of the H20 chip during its current fiscal year. With the change, Trump government has also backed away from a signature effort to stay ahead of China in the AI race. US government had been concerned the Chinese military could use AI chips to coordinate attacks and develop weapons and had also wanted to preserve the US lead in developing AI systems. Huang pressed the administration to roll back its restrictions on shipments of AI chips to China, arguing that closing off the China market will only hurt US tech companies.
