Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly reached an agreement with the Trump administration to prevent export restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 AI chips. The H20 is the most advanced AI chip from Nvidia that is still allowed for export from the U.S. to China. This exception was allegedly secured following Huang’s promise to invest in new AI data centers within the U.S. According to NPR, this proposal was made during a dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last week.
Nvidia has not provided any comments on the matter. Concerns had arisen within the semiconductor industry that the H20 chips, which are adjusted to perform at a lower capacity than other Nvidia chips, might face restrictions. These concerns were due to reports that China-based DeepSeek utilized the H20 to train its R1 open AI model, which gained attention in January for its notable performance compared to models from U.S.-based labs, such as OpenAI.
Bipartisan calls from senators have demanded restrictions on the H20 chips, and NPR reported that the Trump administration was preparing to impose export controls before deciding otherwise. The decision to allow Nvidia to continue exporting H20s to China appears to challenge the administration’s goal of securing U.S. leadership in AI.
The situation is further complicated by the Trump administration’s continued enforcement of a set of AI chip export rules implemented by former President Joe Biden in January. These regulations impose export limits on nearly all countries outside the U.S., including allies, with stricter measures targeting China and Russia.
Nvidia criticized these guidelines as “unprecedented and misguided,” suggesting that they could hinder global innovation. Several AI companies, like Nvidia, have aligned with Trump’s “America-first” strategy in AI to win favor with the administration. For instance, OpenAI joined forces with SoftBank and Oracle for a $500 billion U.S. data center project known as the Stargate Project, initiated in January. Microsoft also announced an $80 billion investment in AI data centers for its 2025 fiscal year, with half of that amount designated for the U.S.
Donald Trump has reportedly pressured certain partners to achieve his objectives. He allegedly informed Taiwanese semiconductor company TSMC that it would face taxes of up to 100% if it did not establish new chip factories in the U.S.
