Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is seen at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, in October.JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images
Beijing is set to limit access to Nvidia’s NVDA-Q advanced H200 chips despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to allow the export of the technology to China, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing two people with knowledge of the matter.
Regulators in Beijing have been discussing ways to permit limited access to the H200, Nvidia’s second-best generation of artificial intelligence chips, according to the report.
Such a move would add a hurdle to Nvidia and other top U.S. chipmakers’ ability to address the China market, after Trump’s Monday announcement appeared to settle a debate over whether these companies should keep their global lead by selling AI chips to China or withhold shipments.
Nvidia shares, which had risen as much as 2 per cent in premarket trading, pared gains after the report and were last up about 0.6 per cent. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the report.
Brookfield and Qatar launch $20-billion AI infrastructure joint venture
Canada wants to excel in AI, but its funding model is frustrating tech leaders
Beijing has been pushing back against domestic firms’ use of U.S. technology, especially Nvidia chips, as it retaliates against American restrictions.
Earlier U.S. restrictions banned the sale of advanced AI processors to China, weighing on Nvidia’s ability to grow in one of the world’s largest markets for AI chips and development.
The export of the H200 chips will be permitted with a 25-per-cent fee levied on such sales, Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday. Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said the approval alone may have limited impact on Nvidia’s business in China unless it is allowed to export other chip lines such as Blackwell or Rubin.
Shares of AMD AMD-Q and Intel INTC-Q also pared gains and were last up about 0.3 per cent in premarket trading. So far this year, Nvidia has gained nearly 40 per cent compared with the S&P 500 benchmark index’s 16.4-per-cent rise in the same period.