The US Commerce Department has begun granting Nvidia licenses to export its H20 chips to China, a key breakthrough for the AI giant’s access to a crucial market
The decision follows last month’s reversal of an April ban on H20 chip sales to China. Nvidia designed the chip specifically for the Chinese market to comply with Biden-era AI export restrictions. The curbs had threatened to cut $8 billion from July-quarter sales. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly met Donald Trump on Wednesday, though the company declined to comment.
Nvidia previously said it was seeking US approval to resume H20 GPU sales to China and had been assured the licenses would be granted soon. Details on the number of licenses, recipient companies, and shipment values remain unclear.
The company had warned of a $5.5 billion hit from the restrictions but later reduced the estimate by $1 billion after reusing materials. Nvidia also denied Chinese concerns that the H20 chip contained any “backdoors.” Meanwhile, exports of other advanced Nvidia AI chips to China remain restricted under US measures aimed at curbing Beijing’s AI and defense development.
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