In his latest Truth Social address , US President Trump approved NVIDIA's export of its H200 AI processor to China, imposing a 25% tariff on each H200 sale, subject to full review by the US Department of Commerce. This chip's performance far exceeds previous US export thresholds, marking the first high-end AI processor approved by the US since the 2022 export restrictions were tightened. However, it remains uncertain whether China will allow companies to purchase the H200, and this overall policy adjustment is seen as a significant turning point in US-China technology controls.
Trump approves H200 visa for exports to China, with an additional 25% surcharge.
Trump stated that he has approved the export of H200 to China. As required by the US, Nvidia must pay a 25% markup to the US government for every H200 unit sold, effectively imposing a tariff, and sales can only be made to Chinese customers deemed "approved" by the US government.
Trump added that he had personally informed Chinese President Xi Jinping of the decision and that Xi's response was quite positive.
According to a White House official , the 25% fee will be collected "as a tax on imports from Taiwan to the United States." The H200 is manufactured in Taiwan, so the chips must first be sent to the United States for security review by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to confirm their intended use before being re-exported to China.
The H200 visa has been approved, and its effectiveness far exceeds the export restriction threshold.
The H200 belongs to NVIDIA's Hopper series and is a higher-end model than the H20. The H200 uses the Hopper architecture and is capable of providing a GPU with 141 GB of HBM3e memory at a speed of 4.8 TB per second, which is almost twice the capacity of the H100 GPU , and the memory bandwidth is increased by 1.4 times.
The Trump administration's direct approval of the H200 visa makes it the first AI processor approved for export by the United States, and one that far exceeds established export restrictions.
Whether China will make the purchase remains undecided, and officials continue to observe the situation.
Despite formal approval from the United States, it remains unclear whether China will truly allow companies to purchase H200 GPUs. According to the Financial Times , the Chinese government is discussing whether to require companies to apply for permission to use H200, or to restrict the adoption of such high-end GPUs in certain sectors.
The Chinese government had previously asked state-owned enterprises to avoid purchasing Nvidia H20 GPUs, so it remains uncertain whether China will change its policy on Nvidia GPUs.
The H200 approval marks a turning point, and US technology export controls begin to loosen.
According to Bloomberg Economics , Trump's approval of the H200 export visa represents the most significant policy shift since the US tightened technology export controls in 2022. The research suggests this move could influence the development of AI technology in China and further complicate the trajectory of the US-China technology war.
Although the United States still prohibits the export of the more powerful Blackwell and Rubin series, the release of the H200 also signifies that the United States' technology export controls have begun to loosen.
This article, which discusses Trump's approval of Nvidia's H200 export to China and the imposition of a 25% tariff, first appeared on ABMedia, a ABMedia .
