US Commerce Secretary: "China Has Not Purchased a Single Nvidia H200 Chip"

"Not Allowed by the Chinese Government"

Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the 22nd (local time) and stated that Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, the H200, has not yet been sold to Chinese companies.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and other outlets on this day, Secretary Lutnick said, "There is a delicate balance in our relationship with China. U.S. President Donald Trump has the best relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and he is maintaining that balance," adding the aforementioned remarks.

Howard Lutnik, U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Photo by UPI Yonhap News

Secretary Lutnick emphasized, "The United States will not sell its best semiconductors to China under any circumstances," and added, "As of today, they have not purchased anything." He continued, "We are not selling our best chips, namely Blackwell, at all," and added, "The H200 has existed for several years already."

The H200 is based on the Hopper architecture, which is the previous generation compared to Nvidia’s flagship Blackwell. Although it does not match the latest chips, its performance is about six times higher than the H20 chip—which was previously sold to China with downgraded performance.

However, Gregory Meeks, the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (New York), pointed out, "This is not a matter of commercial interest," and questioned, "Can you be certain that no semiconductor sold to any company will end up in the hands of the People’s Liberation Army?"

Last month, the Financial Times (FT) and others reported that Nvidia had shifted the production facilities of TSMC, a Taiwanese foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturer), from making H200 chips to producing the next-generation 'Vera Rubin' chips.

The Trump Administration approved exports of the H200 chip to China after the U.S.-China summit in Gyeongju, South Korea in late October last year. In exchange for imposing a 25% export fee on Nvidia, the administration eased restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. At the end of December last year, foreign media reported that Chinese companies had ordered more than 2 million H200 chips, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also confirmed that Chinese clients had placed orders.

Secretary Lutnick explained that the reason the H200 chips have not been sold to China is due to policy decisions by China, not the United States. He said, "As far as I know, Chinese cloud companies want to purchase these chips," but added, "However, the Chinese government, which is focused on investing in its own industry, is not allowing it." However, some reports have indicated that shipments of the H200 chips have stalled due to disagreements between the U.S. and China over sales conditions.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Secretary Lutnick appeared to take a step back from the plan to re-implement the 'Affiliates Rule'—a measure that applies the same export control restrictions to subsidiaries or companies with partial stakes held by Chinese companies subject to export controls—in November. This rule had been postponed for one year as a result of U.S.-China negotiations in November last year. He said, "I believe the Affiliates Rule is a prudent measure for the United States to consider," but also clarified, "However, it is just one element in the balance of a comprehensive trade agreement."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.