By @CNBC
Publication Date: 2025-12-19 02:05:00
Nvidia’s H20 chip.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has launched a review that could result in the first shipments to China of Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI chips, five sources said, making good on his pledge to allow the controversial sales.
Trump this month said he would allow sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, with the U.S. government collecting a 25% fee, and that the sales would help keep U.S. firms ahead of Chinese chipmakers by cutting demand for Chinese chips.
The move drew fire from China hawks across the U.S. political spectrum over concerns the chips would supercharge Beijing’s military and erode the U.S. advantage in artificial intelligence.
But questions have remained about how quickly the U.S. might approve such sales and whether Beijing would allow Chinese firms to purchase the Nvidia chips.
Reuters reported last week that Nvidia was considering an increase to production of the H200, the immediate predecessor to its current flagship Blackwell chips, after initial orders from China outstripped the current capacity.
The U.S. Commerce Department, which oversees export policy, has sent license applications for chip shipments to the State, Energy and Defense Departments for review, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the process is not public.
Those agencies have 30 days to weigh in, according to export regulations, with the ultimate decision falling to Trump if agency officials…
