China nevertheless gets access to previously forbidden computer chips from Nvidia

This article was last updated on July 16, 2025

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China nevertheless gets access to previously forbidden computer chips from Nvidia

Companies in China are again gaining access to certain computer chips from the largest chip designer in the world, the American Nvidia. The US government stopped the sale of the H20 computer chips for months, but according to the company The US said that Nvidia can still sell the chips in China.

Nvidia developed the H20 chips especially for the Chinese market. The company did that because the US government had already forbidden Nvidia to export more advanced chips to China.

But the plan to still sell those specially designed H20 chips to Chinese companies could go into the trash in April. Then the US government also forbade the export of these chips to China.

The US government is afraid that China uses the powerful computer chips to get a technological and military lead over the US. By stopping the sale of powerful Nvidia chips, the US government hopes to prevent or delay that development.

Prohibition

The US has been putting pressure on Nvidia for years not to sell its chips on the Chinese market. In September 2022, the American government forbade the company to export its powerful H100 chips to China.

In response, Nvidia then decided to adjust his H100 model to a less powerful variant: the H800. And the US government was not so happy with that: in October 2023 an export ban was also imposed for those chips.

Nvidia had to go back to the drawing table and then came up with the new chip especially for the Chinese market: the H20. The hope was that it did meet the wishes of the US government. But also for that chip, an export ban also came three months ago.

Until now, it seems. Now that the US government Nvidia still gives room to sell the H20 chips, the Chinese market – which can make a lot of profit – is partly open again for the chip designer.

Nvidia benefits enormously

Nvidia earns a lot of money from the sale of his chips through the investments in artificial intelligence (AI). The company made last year 73 billion Euro profit, more than twice as much as in 2023.

At the American stock exchange, Nvidia was the first company ever to have a value of 4000 billion dollars reached. The shares of the company rose rapidly in price last year. A share now costs more than 160 dollars. Two years ago it was a few tens.

The fact that the US now allows NVIDIA to use the H20 chips will ensure that the company can still earn money from Chinese companies. Earlier, the director of Nvidia indicated that the prohibition would cost the company billions.

According to sources from Reuters news agency, the Chinese internet giants bytedance (the company behind Tiktok) and Tencent (publisher of games and the company behind the popular social medium WeChat) are already busy submitting requests from the American chip designer.

Nvidia should then submit those applications to the US government. After approval, Nvidia can then deliver the chips. Nvidia says that the company hopes to be able to deliver the first orders quickly.