The U.S. Department of Commerce officially relaxed export restrictions on advanced semiconductors Tuesday, opening a regulated pathway for Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) and AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) to resume sales of high-performance AI chips to China.
The new framework, published by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), shifts the federal stance from a "presumption of denial" to a case-by-case review process for Nvidia’s H200 and equivalent processors.
The policy shift follows months of intensive lobbying by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and a December agreement between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Under the new rules, "approved customers" in China may purchase the H200—Nvidia's second-most powerful chip—provided they pay a 25% government surcharge on each sale.
This fee, which flows directly to the U.S. Treasury, is framed by the administration as a "national security levy" that allows the U.S. to benefit economically from technology that was previously barred from the Chinese market.
To mitigate national security risks, the Commerce Department has instituted several unprecedented safeguards.
Every shipment must undergo independent third-party testing in U.S. labs to verify that its performance does not exceed permitted thresholds.
Additionally, exporters must certify that U.S. domestic supply remains sufficient; total exports to China and Macau are strictly capped at 50% of the volume shipped to U.S. customers to ensure American technological lead time.
The regulation specifically excludes Nvidia’s newest Blackwell architecture and the upcoming Rubin model, which remain strictly prohibited for export to China.
Rival chipmaker AMD is also expected to apply for licenses under the new framework for its MI325X accelerators.
While Nvidia welcomed the "thoughtful balance," critics in Congress have labeled the move a "colossal failure," arguing that even throttled access to H200-class compute could accelerate China’s military AI capabilities.
Meanwhile, early reports from Beijing suggest that the Chinese government is already issuing its own "counter-guidelines," instructing domestic firms to prioritize homegrown chips from Huawei and Biren over the now-available, but heavily taxed, U.S. alternatives.