US trade official: Very few shipments of Nvidia H200 chips have gone to China

A senior trade official in the Trump administration said that Nvidia’s H200 AI chips shipped to mainland China and Hong Kong are in extremely small quantities.

Jeffery Kessler, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce responsible for industry and security, said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday that, under Washington’s authorization and licensing, the number of H200 and similar chips exported to China is very limited.

Kessler noted that the U.S. government evaluates companies seeking H200 chips on a case-by-case basis. Applicants must meet national security requirements and accept inspections to ensure the chips comply with relevant rules. He said U.S. authorities sometimes deny license applications they receive.

It remains unclear whether China will ultimately approve large-scale imports of H200 chips. If Nvidia chips are not approved, Chinese firms will use domestically produced replacement chips, which are considered to perform relatively poorly in AI training.

In December last year, Trump said the U.S. government would approve sales of H200 chips to China in exchange for a 25% profit-sharing arrangement. Earlier this year, the U.S. government issued H200 chip licenses, and some government officials believe the chip could be used for military purposes.