The United States has taken a significant step in tightening its restrictions on the export of advanced AI technology to China by halting the sale of Nvidia's H20 chips.
This move, reported by Radio Free Asia (RFA), comes amid escalating trade tensions and reflects Washington’s deepening concerns over the potential misuse of artificial intelligence capabilities by Beijing.
Nvidia, a global leader in the AI chip sector, confirmed on Tuesday that the US government had informed the company on April 9 that it would now require government approval to export its H20 chips to China.
The ban is set to remain in place indefinitely, marking a notable shift in Washington's approach towards regulating high-end semiconductor exports.
While the H20 chip does not boast the most powerful computing capabilities in Nvidia's portfolio, it still carries specifications that make it highly suitable for building high-performance computing systems.
The US government is reportedly worried that even with its limitations, the chip could be repurposed or integrated into Chinese supercomputing infrastructure—raising national security red flags.
Previously, the H20 chip had been the most advanced AI semiconductor that Nvidia was permitted to legally sell to China under earlier export regulations.
Though it falls short of matching the performance of Nvidia’s cutting-edge Blackwell chip, it features high-bandwidth memory similar to Blackwell, enabling performance boosts for specific AI applications.
Interest in the H20 chip had been growing steadily in China. In January, the Chinese startup DeepSeek gained attention for launching a cost-effective AI model trained using the H20 chip, demonstrating its viability for practical AI development.
Moreover, The Information, a technology news outlet, reported earlier this year that major Chinese tech giants—including Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance—had placed orders for more than $16 billion worth of H20 chips during the first quarter of 2025.
This represented a sharp rise of over 40% from the previous quarter, underlining the growing demand for the chip in China's expanding AI sector.
The US first introduced export controls on AI-related chips in October 2022, initially targeting China and later expanding the scope to other countries and additional technologies.
The decision to enforce the latest restriction on the H20 chip coincides with a fresh round of trade friction between Washington and Beijing.
The development signals a broader push by the US to limit China’s access to cutting-edge technologies that could bolster its military or surveillance capabilities.
At the same time, it puts global semiconductor companies like Nvidia in a complex position—caught between lucrative business opportunities in China and rising regulatory barriers imposed by the US government.
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