President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social late Dec. 8 that he has decided to allow the sale of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to “approved customers” in China.
House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement on a final FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that includes legislation to limit U.S. outbound investment in China but omits a Senate proposal to restrict exports of advanced AI chips.
U.S. semiconductor-related export controls against China have been "incredibly successful," mostly because they have forced Beijing to expend more resources trying to advance its domestic chip industry, argued Stephen Brooks, a professor at Dartmouth College who focuses on economics and security.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was critical last week of U.S. policies that he said are restricting the company from selling its advanced chips in China and pushed back on claims that Nvidia AI processors are being smuggled into the country.
Sens. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Chris Coons, D-Del., announced Dec. 4 that they have introduced a bill to codify into law the Trump administration’s current limits on what advanced AI chips can be sold to China and other foreign “adversaries.”
The Trump administration has halted plans to sanction a Chinese spy agency and will refrain from imposing any “major new export controls” on China to avoid disrupting the trade truce reached between the two sides in South Korea earlier this year, the Financial Times reported.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., ranking member on the Banking Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance, urged the Trump administration Dec. 3 to block the sale of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to China, saying the advanced semiconductors could enhance the country’s military and surveillance capabilities.
The EU released its new economic security doctrine this week (see 2511170007), outlining plans to build on the bloc’s existing trade defense measures and vowing to more aggressively use investment screening, export controls and other tools to protect EU companies.
The U.S. should maintain and strengthen export restrictions on advanced chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment to preserve its edge over China in AI, a panel of experts told lawmakers Dec. 2.
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