The U.S. has approved licenses for Nvidia to export its H20 AI chips to China, reversing an earlier ban. The move restores access to a key market that generated $4.6 billion in first-quarter sales. While other advanced AI chip exports remain restricted, China still accounts for 12.5% of Nvidia’s revenue.
The U.S. government has begun granting Nvidia licenses to export its H20 AI chips to China, a move that reopens access to one of the company’s biggest markets. A Commerce Department official confirmed the news on Friday.
The decision follows last month’s reversal of an April ban on selling the H20 chip to China. Nvidia had specifically designed this chip to meet U.S. export control rules introduced during the Biden administration.
The sales restrictions have already taken a toll. Nvidia warned that the curbs would cut $8 billion from its July quarter revenue. In April, the company had estimated a $5.5 billion hit from the ban but later reduced the figure after repurposing some unused materials.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly met with former President Donald Trump earlier this week, though the company has not commented on the discussion.
While the exact number of licenses granted remains unclear, the move could help Nvidia regain ground in China, which accounted for 12.5% of its total revenue in the first quarter. The H20 chip alone generated $4.6 billion in sales during that period.
However, exports of Nvidia’s other advanced AI chips to China are still restricted. U.S. policymakers have long sought to limit China’s access to cutting-edge semiconductors to slow the development of its AI and defense capabilities.
Huang has warned that without Chinese sales, Nvidia could lose its industry-leading position, especially as Chinese tech giant Huawei ramps up efforts to woo local developers with domestically made chips.
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