Nvidia export licenses to China move forward

Export licenses clear the way for Nvidia to ship H20 AI chips to China following a White House meeting, signaling a shift in tech policy.

Nvidia Wins China Export Clearance for H20 Chips After White House Meeting

The Commerce Department has begun issuing licenses that allow Nvidia to export its H20 AI chips to China, ending a months long pause on shipments. The Financial Times reports that licensing is finally moving forward after prior delays tied to regulatory scrutiny and national security concerns.

The move comes after Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang met with President Trump at the White House, with officials signaling a policy alignment that could shorten the backlog. Nvidia has faced a Chinese regulator inquiry over alleged security backdoors, an issue the company has disputed, stating it would never embed such features. The company still plans to resume shipments to Beijing as it manages inventory and backlogs while considering next generation products like the Blackwell B20 and RTX 6000D for domestic markets. Nvidia reportedly holds around 900,000 H20 chips in inventory to address recent write-offs and demand fluctuations.

This licensing step shows how political engagement can unlock hardware markets, even in a tense rivalry. It underscores that policy decisions in Washington and Beijing matter as much as technology curves when firms plot global routes for AI compute.

For Nvidia, the China pathway blends revenue opportunities with regulatory and reputational risk. The arrangement may ease short term supply constraints and support earnings, but it also heightens scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators on security and supply chain integrity. In the broader picture, the episode signals that tech diplomacy remains a key driver of cross border commerce in an era of strategic competition.

Highlights

What happens next will test how far policy can steer the global AI hardware market.