U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in congressional testimony that Nvidia’s latest generation H200 artificial intelligence chip has not yet been sold to any Chinese company. This means that even though the Trump administration approved relevant exports to China with conditions in January this year, this AI chip, which is regarded as Nvidia’s “second most advanced” AI chip, has not yet truly entered the Chinese market.
Asked about H200 sales to China during a Senate hearing, Lutnick said Chinese companies face difficulties obtaining licenses from their own governments. He said China's central government "has not allowed them to buy these chips so far because they are trying to focus their investment on their own industry." Lutnick added: "We have not sold chips to them so far." Nvidia has not responded publicly to this.
In January this year, the U.S. Department of Commerce allowed Nvidia to sell H200 chips to China under certain conditions after relaxing some export restrictions, but required that relevant licenses be subject to review by the Departments of State, Defense, and Energy. The decision sparked concerns among China hawks in Washington, who warned that Beijing could use such high-performance chips to boost its military capabilities, posing a challenge to U.S. national security.
People familiar with the matter previously told Reuters that disputes over sales terms had delayed plans to ship H200 chips to China. On the U.S. side, some of the proposed conditions include strict "know your customer" (KYC) requirements aimed at preventing the Chinese military from gaining access to the chips. According to reports, Nvidia has not yet agreed to the relevant conditions of use, and these conditions have become one of the core focuses of its sales negotiations with China.
Meanwhile, Chinese technology companies are also waiting to see what the future holds for the H200. The Financial Times quoted sources as saying that Chinese customers generally stayed put and delayed placing orders until it was unclear whether the license could be obtained and the specific restrictions. Previous reports pointed out that Chinese regulatory authorities have approved in principle the import of H200 chips by many companies, including ByteDance, Tencent, Alibaba and some artificial intelligence start-ups, but relevant regulatory details are still being formulated and improved.
Against the background of the continued tightening of U.S. high-tech export controls to China, the whereabouts of the H200 are regarded by the outside world as an important indicator of the direction of technological friction between the two countries. Lutnick reiterated that day that Nvidia must "comply with various safety guardrails and licensing conditions set around sales to China," and emphasized that these conditions are formed after consultation with multiple security departments. Currently, while the U.S. government is seeking to maintain its technological advantages in the field of artificial intelligence, it is also trying to prevent related technologies from being used to undermine U.S. security interests by setting up complex licensing and compliance mechanisms.