Nvidia says it will resume H20 AI chip sales to China 'soon,' following U.S. government assurances

Nvidia announced Tuesday that it hopes to resume sales of its H20 general processing units to clients in China, saying that the U.S. government had assured the company would be granted licenses.

Nvidia's sales of the H20 AI chips, which had been designed specifically to keep them out of export controls on China, were halted in April.

"The U.S. government has assured NVIDIA that licenses will be granted, and NVIDIA hopes to start deliveries soon," the company said in a statement.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in recent months has ramped up his lobbying against export controls, arguing that they inhibited American tech leadership. In May, Huang said chip restrictions had already cut Nvidia's China market share nearly in half.

The potential change in U.S. stance follows a meeting between Huang and U.S. President Donald Trump last week. During the talks, Huang had reaffirmed Nvidia's support for the administration's job creation and onshoring efforts, as well as the aim for America to lead in global AI, the company said.

Washington and Beijing last month agreed to a preliminary trade framework that allowed relaxing rare-earth export controls by China and easing of tech export curbs by the U.S.

Huang also announced a new "fully compliant" GPU, NVIDIA RTX PRO, saying it was ideal for smart factories and logistics.

Since May, reports had indicated that Nvidia was working on a new AI chip for the China market, which would be less advanced than the H20.

However, the potential resumption of H20 chips to China comes as a surprise, Ray Wang, research director of semiconductors, supply chain and emerging technology at Futurum Group, told CNBC.

"The lifting of the H20 ban marks a significant and positive development for Nvidia, which will enable the company to reinforce its leadership in China," Wang said.

"The resumption of H20 shipments — alongside the upcoming rollout of new export control-compliant AI chips for the Chinese market — should serve as a fresh growth catalyst in the coming quarters," he added.

Meanwhile, Nvidia confirmed that Huang was in China where he has met with government and industry officials to discuss the benefits of AI and ways for researchers to advance safe and secure AI.