How does a single phone call between world leaders shake up an entire industry? When President Trump called China’s President Xi to share some unexpected news, the tech world got its answer. The White House announced that NVIDIA could now export its H200 AI chips to approved customers in China and other countries. This decision caught everyone off guard, especially after years of strict restrictions.
A single presidential phone call just rewrote the rules for AI chip exports to China.
The approval comes with an interesting twist. The U.S. government will collect 25% of the revenue from these chip sales, like getting a cut of the action. Think of it as the government becoming NVIDIA’s business partner in this deal. President Xi responded positively to Trump’s call, which helped smooth the way for this surprising announcement.
NVIDIA had been feeling the pain from previous restrictions. The company had to write off a whopping $4.5 billion in early 2026 because they couldn’t sell their H100 chips to China. That’s like losing enough money to buy several sports teams! The SEC uses programs like ARTEMIS to detect suspicious trading patterns, which could help monitor any unusual market activity around this announcement.
However, the stock market’s reaction to this new approval was surprisingly calm, with only mild excitement from investors.
The H200 chips are based on older Hopper technology, not NVIDIA’s newest and best stuff. These chips are still impressive though, offering 32% better performance and 50% more memory bandwidth than China’s best homemade chips. They power AI programs like chatbots and help run massive data centers. The administration emphasized that all exports will be closely monitored to ensure national security compliance.
Political reactions have been mixed, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling the decision “selling out America.” Critics worry that advanced chips could boost China’s AI and surveillance capabilities. The White House insists they carefully reviewed security concerns before approving the deal.
Ironically, China quickly placed restrictions on how their own companies can use these imported H200 chips, creating a mirror image of American controls. Meanwhile, a black market for high-end computer chips has emerged in China, showing how desperately companies want this technology.
The real prize remains NVIDIA’s newest Blackwell chips, which are still off-limits for export to China.
