President Donald Trump has officially reversed a major Biden-administration policy by approving the export of Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips to “approved customers” in China. The decision, announced on December 8, 2025, marks a sharp departure from the previous “small yard, high fence” strategy that sought to block Beijing from accessing the high-end semiconductors necessary to train advanced AI models.
Under the new agreement, which Trump reportedly finalized following a positive response from Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the United States government will collect a 25% revenue-sharing fee on all H200 sales to Chinese entities. Trump defended the move on Truth Social, arguing that the previous restrictions forced American companies to spend billions developing “degraded” products that nobody wanted. He asserted that the new policy would “protect National Security, create American Jobs, and keep America’s lead in AI.”
However, the decision has sparked intense backlash from national security experts and cybersecurity leaders. Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of CrowdStrike, cautioned in a letter to the Wall Street Journal that China is unlikely to remain dependent on U.S. technology. Instead, he warned that Chinese firms will use the H200 chips to bridge the gap in their own domestic capabilities—such as Huawei’s Ascend line—before dropping Nvidia entirely once their home-grown versions are sufficiently advanced.
While the Trump administration maintains that state-of-the-art Blackwell and upcoming Rubin chips remain restricted, critics argue the H200 is still six times more powerful than the lower-spec H20 chips previously allowed under Biden. Concerns also remain regarding China’s “military-civil fusion” policy, which experts say makes it impossible to prevent advanced hardware from being repurposed for military use once it enters the country. The Department of Commerce is currently finalizing the implementation details, with the same revenue-sharing model expected to apply to future sales from AMD and Intel
