H200 chips and export squeeze
- U.S. officials say Nvidia's H200 AI chips have not been sold to Chinese customers as of this week. - Commerce Secretary Lutnick told lawmakers that 'zero' H200 chips had been sold to China 'as of today.' - Congress is moving to tighten export controls and limit Commerce Department discretion, with bills targeting chip exports and DUV lithography equipment ( ).
Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips still have not reached Chinese buyers, even after Washington opened a licensing path in January. (reuters.com) Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told lawmakers on April 22 that “zero” H200 chips had been sold to China “as of today,” according to Reuters. Reuters reported that he linked the delay to problems Chinese customers faced getting approval from their own government. (reuters.com) The H200 is one of Nvidia’s top data-center chips, built for training and running large artificial intelligence models. Nvidia says the chip carries 141 gigabytes of HBM3e memory and 4.8 terabytes per second of memory bandwidth, which is the part that keeps huge models fed with data. (nvidia.com) The U.S. Commerce Department changed course on January 13, saying export license applications for the H200, AMD’s MI325X, and similar chips would move from a presumption of denial to case-by-case review. The rule took effect January 15 and added conditions tied to security testing and supply protections. (bis.gov; federalregister.gov) Congress is now trying to narrow that discretion. House and Senate lawmakers introduced the MATCH Act in April to force tighter controls on “chokepoint” chipmaking tools that China cannot make on its own, including deep ultraviolet, or DUV, immersion lithography systems. (baumgartner.house.gov; foreign.senate.gov) DUV machines are the workhorses that project circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, and they are older than the most advanced extreme ultraviolet tools but still critical for many advanced chips. The Senate sponsors said the bill would also target servicing loopholes, not just new equipment sales. (foreign.senate.gov; nbcnews.com) The push lands after years of tightening U.S. semiconductor restrictions on China and after Nvidia’s China business shrank under earlier controls. In its annual report for the year ended January 26, 2025, Nvidia said China data-center revenue remained well below levels seen before the October 2023 export rules. (sec.gov) Nvidia has argued that broad curbs can backfire by pushing Chinese customers toward local alternatives, while China has accelerated efforts to build its own chip and equipment supply chain. Lawmakers backing the new bills are arguing the opposite case in public statements: that remaining gaps in tools and licensing still give Chinese firms access to technology Washington is trying to fence off. (reuters.com; baumgartner.house.gov) For now, the result is a bottleneck on both sides of the Pacific: a chip Washington may license, Beijing has not yet cleared, and Congress may soon make harder to ship at all. (reuters.com; japantimes.co.jp)
