China moves to restrict Nvidia’s H200 AI chips even after U.S. export green light

China’s long-running AI chip standoff with the United States took another sharp turn this week, landing Nvidia squarely in the middle.

Chinese regulators are weighing new limits on access to Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips, according to a report from the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the talks. The discussions focus on granting tightly controlled access rather than a full opening, a move that could narrow the commercial upside Nvidia anticipated following Washington’s recent shift on exports.

The timing is striking. Just a day earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said exports of the H200 to China would proceed, ending weeks of debate within the administration over whether keeping advanced chips flowing overseas would protect America’s lead or hand strategic leverage to Beijing. Trump said the exports would carry a 25 percent fee, a condition framed as a safeguard tied to national interests.

“Regulators in Beijing have been discussing ways to permit limited access to the H200, Nvidia’s second-best generation of artificial intelligence chips,” Reuters confirmed the report.

China set to limit access to Nvidia’s H200 chips despite Trump export approval

Beijing’s response suggests the decision did little to settle matters on the Chinese side. Officials have spent months urging domestic companies to reduce their reliance on U.S. technology, with Nvidia’s chips at the center of that campaign. The approach mirrors China’s broader retaliation against earlier U.S. rules that blocked the sale of advanced AI processors, rules that slowed Nvidia’s expansion in one of its largest markets.

Investors reacted quickly to the uncertainty. Nvidia shares climbed early in premarket trading, then gave up much of those gains after the Financial Times report circulated. By mid-session, the stock was up modestly. Nvidia declined to comment publicly on the situation.

The ripple effect reached across the semiconductor sector. Shares of AMD and Intel followed a similar pattern, trimming earlier gains as traders reassessed the prospects for U.S. chipmakers inside China.

Market analysts see limited upside for Nvidia without deeper access. Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, noted that approval for H200 shipments alone may have a muted impact unless permission expands to newer chip families such as Blackwell or Rubin, which anchor Nvidia’s next growth phase.

For now, the episode underscores how quickly policy signals can shift in the AI chip race. Washington may have reopened the door, yet Beijing still controls how wide it swings, leaving Nvidia and its peers balancing opportunity against a tightening political backdrop.