Trump Reviews Nvidia’s Bid to Sell Chips to China
Decision Balances Economic Benefits With Concerns Over National Security
Key Takeaways:
- U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Nov. 24 that President Donald Trump will decide whether to allow Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chips to China.
- The potential approval would ease 2022 export restrictions and faces opposition from national-security hawks who warn it could aid Beijing’s technological capabilities.
- Lutnick said Trump is weighing economic and security tradeoffs as he hears from advisers and industry leaders, with no timeline given for a decision.
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President Donald Trump is weighing whether to allow Nvidia Corp. to sell advanced artificial intelligence chips to China and will be the one to make a final decision on the matter, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.
The president is hearing from “lots of different advisers” in deciding on the potential exports, Lutnick said in a Bloomberg TV interview Nov. 24, noting that Trump understands Chinese President Xi Jinping “the best.” Bloomberg News had reported Nov. 21that U.S. officials are having early discussions on whether Nvidia can sell its H200 artificial intelligence chips to China.
“That kind of decision sits right on the desk of Donald Trump,” Lutnick said in the interview. “He will decide whether we go forward with that or not.”
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At the same time, Lutnick acknowledged the tensions between promoting economic expansion and protecting national security. “Do you want to sell China some chips and keep them using our tech and tech stack, or do you say to them, ‘Look, we’re not going to sell you our best chips. We’re just going to hold off on that, and we’re going to compete in the AI race ourselves,’ ” he said.
Allowing H200 sales to China would mark a significant easing of restrictions first imposed in 2022 to prevent Beijing and its military from accessing the most powerful US technologies. Any move to sell a higher-caliber processor to China would provoke sharp opposition from national-security hawks in Washington, where some lawmakers arebackinglegislation to prevent such a move.
(Bloomberg Television via YouTube)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has forged a close relationship with Trump and calls him often, is eager to sell his products to China. The company remains shut out of the Chinese market for AI chips after authorities in Beijing told local companies not to buy the less-advanced H20 chips that Trump approved for sale earlier this year.
Lutnick said Nov. 24 that Huang has “good reasons” for wanting to sell to China, adding that there are an “enormous number of other people” who agree it should be considered.
“It’s a really interesting question,” Lutnick said. “He’s got all the information. He’s got lots and lots of experts talking to him, and he’s going to decide which way to go forward.”
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