U.S. tech giant Nvidia announced on Tuesday that it is resuming sales of its advanced AI chip to China, just ahead of CEO Jensen Huang’s visit to Beijing.
In a statement, the company said, “Nvidia has submitted applications to resume sales of its H20 GPU to China. The U.S. government has confirmed that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to begin deliveries soon.”
This China-specific version of the chip was originally designed to comply with earlier U.S. export restrictions, but as of April, it also required direct U.S. approval for sale in the country.
Shortly after Nvidia’s announcement, billionaire co-founder Jensen Huang appeared on China’s state-run CCTV network, confirming that the company had received approval to begin shipments.
Huang is scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the 3rd China International Supply Chain Expo on Wednesday, according to CCTV.
The U.S. move comes amid a recent thaw in Washington-Beijing relations, in what appears to be an informal truce aimed at enabling both sides to agree on the exchange of critical technologies. The U.S. is hoping China will allow more exports of rare earth minerals in return for easing several export restrictions ahead of trade talks held in London last month.
During those discussions, the Trump administration firmly stated that restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 chips were non-negotiable.
This development marks a major win for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who had previously described U.S. export restrictions as a "failure" that helped boost Huawei’s rise. It also provides a major boost to Chinese firms like DeepSeek and Alibaba Group, which rely on Nvidia chips to train, develop, and host AI services in competition with companies like OpenAI.
Following Nvidia’s announcement, Nasdaq futures surged, while markets in China and Hong Kong also responded positively.
According to Bloomberg News, the Hang Seng Tech Index rose by as much as 2.2%, while shares in data center operators like Beijing Sinnet Technology jumped 8.4%. The U.S. Commerce Department, which oversees semiconductor exports, did not comment.
Vey-Sern Ling, managing director at Union Bancaire Privée, told Bloomberg: “Nvidia’s resumption of H20 chip sales to China is undoubtedly a positive development—not just for the company, but for the entire AI semiconductor supply chain, and for Chinese tech platforms building capabilities in this space. It’s also a good sign for U.S.-China relations.”
Huang recently met with former U.S. President Donald Trump and announced that Nvidia plans to release a new product called “RTX PRO” tailored for the Chinese market. He described it as "fully compliant" with U.S. regulations, meaning it stays below the technical thresholds that require Washington’s approval.
He emphasized that the U.S. should not worry about the Chinese military using Nvidia’s chips, as any product subject to sudden export restrictions could never be fully relied upon.
The H20 chip is a less powerful version of Nvidia’s top-tier AI accelerators, specifically designed for the Chinese market. It’s part of the company’s effort to navigate U.S. sanctions on AI hardware sales to China—first imposed in 2022 and tightened several times since.
These restrictions have already targeted two generations of Nvidia’s China-specific chips: the H800 and then the H20. After the Trump administration barred H20 chip sales in April, Huang stated that Nvidia faced multibillion-dollar losses due to unsold inventory.
