U.S. clears Nvidia to sell H200 chips in China

The Trump administration has authorized Nvidia's sale of its H200 AI chip to "approved customers" in China, raising questions about export controls, signaling, and Beijing's AI ambitions

Welcome back to What’s Happening in China, your weekly China brief.

Trump announced on Monday that the U.S. would authorize Nvidia to sell its H200 chip to “approved customers” in China. According to Bloomberg, Washington concluded the move carries limited risk since “the company’s Chinese archrival, Huawei Technologies Co., already offers AI systems with comparable performance.”

Inevitably, Beijing will continue efforts to reduce its reliance on foreign technology and advance its domestic AI chip industry, with reports suggesting that it is preparing “a package of incentives worth as much as $70 billion.”

Still, concerns remain that giving Chinese AI developers access to the H200, although less advanced than Nvidia’s Blackwell chips, could help accelerate the country’s technological ambitions.

Irene Zhang from ChinaTalk compiled some of the reactions circulating in Chinese media.

Let’s jump into it.

— PC