US permits Nvidia H200 sales to 10 Chinese firms; Beijing summit reset signals openness

In a striking reversal of the US export restrictions on advanced semiconductors that have defined the Trump and Biden administrations' China policy, the US government approved the sale of Nvidia's H200 chips to 10 Chinese companies. The timing, coinciding with Trump and Xi's two-day summit in Beijing, is not coincidental. The summit itself produced a series of signals aimed at stabilizing bilateral ties, including China's renewal of import licenses for US beef producers and Xi's explicit invitation for Trump to visit the White House in September. Against this backdrop, the chip approval reads as part of a broader détente in the technology and trade relationship.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's physical presence in Beijing during the summit further underscores corporate alignment with the diplomatic reset. Huang's appearance alongside other American executives and financial leaders in the delegation signals that the semiconductor industry sees an opening to resume business with China after years of regulatory strangulation. The H200 is a next-generation data center accelerator, and approval for its export to Chinese enterprises indicates the US is willing to compromise on its previous stance that AI chips pose direct national security risks. This stands in stark contrast to prior administrations' attempts to choke off Chinese access to cutting-edge compute.

The implications are multi-layered. For Nvidia, approval of H200 sales expands a major market segment and shores up revenue growth if the US-China relationship stabilizes. For Chinese tech firms and datacenters, access to the latest Nvidia silicon removes a critical constraint on their AI infrastructure investments. For global semiconductor supply chains, the move suggests that the Trump administration may prioritize deal-making and business relationships over tech decoupling, at least for commercial AI chips. However, the move also carries risk: it could trigger blowback from Congress, particularly from China hawks who argue that exporting advanced chips undermines US technological leadership and national security.

The sceptical view is that this approval may be a negotiating tactic or temporary concession, and that permanent regulatory relief for Chinese chip imports will depend on how the broader trade negotiations unfold. Xi's warning to Trump about Taiwan and his emphasis on "clashes" if the Taiwan issue is mishandled suggests that geopolitical friction remains. If the summit deteriorates or negotiations stall, the US could reverse course and tighten controls again, making any Chinese capex plans dependent on chip access potentially obsolete.