Trump greenlights the sale of Nvidia H200 to China, draws immediate national security backlash

In a significant shift of U.S. technology export policy, President Donald Trump has granted Nvidia the approval to sell its advanced H200 Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips to "approved customers" in China. The decision, announced by the President, comes with an unprecedented condition. The U.S. government will receive 25% of the revenue generated from these sales.

The move reverses the previous administration's policy, which imposed strict export controls to prevent China from acquiring chips capable of accelerating military AI and supercomputing programs.

The revenue-sharing mandate

The President stated that the Department of Commerce is finalizing the details of the arrangement, which will also extend similar conditional approvals to other American chipmakers, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel.

The H200 Chip

The H200 is Nvidia's second-most powerful AI processor, a generation behind their cutting-edge Blackwell chip (which remains restricted). Analysts note that the H200 is still substantially more powerful than the H20 model Nvidia previously developed specifically for the Chinese market, which had also faced export bans.

Proponents of the move argue it is a "thoughtful balance" that supports American jobs and manufacturing by allowing U.S. companies access to the massive Chinese market. And by withholding the very latest chips (Blackwell and the forthcoming Rubin), the US can maintain a technological edge over China. The revenue-sharing fee is promoted as a benefit for American taxpayers.

Opposition erupts on Capitol Hill

The announcement immediately sparked fierce opposition from national security hawks and key lawmakers who view the decision as a dangerous concession that threatens America's technological edge.

Critics, including former national security officials, argue that giving China access to the H200 chips, which are far superior to domestic Chinese alternatives, will accelerate the country's military and technological development, directly eroding the U.S. advantage in the global AI race.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and others have publicly denounced the policy, calling it a "colossal economic and national security failure" and demanding that both Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the Commerce Secretary testify before Congress to explain the agreement.

The legality of the U.S. government taking a 25% revenue cut is also being questioned, with some experts suggesting it may violate constitutional prohibitions on taxing exports.

The Commerce Department will oversee the sale of the chips to "approved commercial customers," though critics contend that China's "military-civil fusion" doctrine makes it impossible to prevent the technology from eventually being used for military purposes.