AI executives have been called President Trump’s decision to allow Nvidia to “gloriously” sell chips to China, allowing US companies to become the dominant force in CCP’s AI stack.
In the order of events, a personal meeting between President Donald Trump and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, CEO of the world’s largest chip maker, has prevented the transfer of H20 AI chips to China.
The Commerce Department restricted the sale of chips in April, reaching Nvidia’s billions of dollars in cost, and revoking the ban was a concession to the mineral trade that would halt China’s restrictions on access to its rare earths.
Nvidia said it would resume sales of H20 chips Monday night, and that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended the move.
“We don’t sell them our best. It’s not the second best… the fourth best tip,” he said.
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A private meeting between President Donald Trump and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, CEO of the world’s largest chip maker, led to a ban on relocating H20 AI chips to China. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images / Getty Images)
The H20, blocked in April over national security concerns, has been approved under the banner of broader trade negotiations, particularly in exchange for access to rare earth minerals from Beijing. But this shift raises important questions.
Is the US trading strategic advantages in artificial intelligence, or is it allowing China to rely on American technology as a leverage point?
Critics argue that the administration is sending conflicting messages. Just a few days ago, the White House-sanctioned ban blocked the sale of chips to UAE G42 AI companies due to China-related security concerns, but the China-bound H20 ban has now been relaxed.
Rep. John Mourenard, chairman of China’s House Selection Committee, denounced the decision, warning that US AI chips “could strengthen China’s military capabilities, curb its citizens and threaten US innovation.”
AI’s Jack Burnham and the Tech Researcher of The Foundation for Democracies (FDD) reflect similar concerns. He told Fox News Digital that the H20 chip is not as strong as the new chip, but “at the same time it’s far more powerful than the chips that China can produce on a large scale, and it’s exactly what China needs at this moment.”
The Commerce Department limited sales of NVIDIA H20 chips in April, sacrificing NVIDIA billions of dollars. (I-HWA Cheng/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“This allows AI to think properly,” he said, adding that it is “very likely” that China will use it to develop its own advanced AI models such as Deep Seek and use chips to promote military modernization efforts.
“It’s very important to recognize that this is where the US is particularly ahead of it. It has an unparalleled advantage, and that’s the advantage the US should continue to try to retain,” Burnham said.
He said China will rely on US chips to advance AI until China’s alternatives become more “cost-effective.”
But Arnie Bellini, a leading AI and cybersecurity investor, had a different view.
“This is a great strategy from the White House,” Bellini said.
“So we are offering them limited access to old chips, and in return we are strengthening our own industrial supply chain,” he said.
Bellini added that by preventing China from accessing even in the H20s, there is a risk that companies like Huawei will force them to build independent AI stacks.
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“Han knows what he’s doing,” Bellini said. “Let China have the H20 as Nvidia is already moving towards a more advanced platform. What they get today will be outdated by the time it unfolds.”
Some experts warn China will use chips to advance its troops. (Getty Images / Photo Illustration / Getty Illustration)
China gets the chip, but to run the AI model, they will still need Nvidia’s proprietary platform, CUDA software.
“Even if China gets the hardware, they’re still running in a US controlled software ecosystem. That’s silent leverage,” Bellini said.
Simeon Bochev, a former Apple AI executive and current CEO of Compute Exchange, said he supports lifting the ban. Otherwise, he said, it would repeat what happened when the US refused to share its 4G network with China.
“What happened? We forced China to activate. That’s what they did. They developed 5G technology, and then 5G became the main technology around the world,” he said. “We had a lead that gave up.
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“We’re not talking about sending our own US data to China. What we’re talking about is that could a chips giant American company be allowed to sell that technology in a market that’s most likely to innovate it in the coming years?”
