President Trump. AFP=Yonhap News

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on December 8 (local time) that he would allow the export of Nvidia's AI chip 'H200' to China.

President Trump stated via the social media platform Truth Social on the same day, "I informed President Xi Jinping that the United States will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China and other countries, provided that the United States can maintain its strong national security."

He added, "President Xi responded positively to this."

"Twenty-five percent of the sales revenue [from H200 sales] will be paid to the United States," President Trump said. "This policy will support American jobs, strengthen American manufacturing, and benefit American taxpayers."

However, President Trump explained that Nvidia's cutting-edge AI chip 'Blackwell' and the soon-to-be-released 'Rubin' are not included in this agreement.

While the H200 lags behind the latest 'Blackwell'-based GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), it shows an overwhelmingly superior performance gap compared to the low-specification chip 'H20', which is currently approved for export to China.

President Trump stated, "The Department of Commerce is finalizing the details, and this approach will be applied to AMD, Intel, and other great American companies as well."

China has expressed a principled stance that U.S.-China cooperation is important.

At a regular press briefing on December 9, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jia Kun stated, "We have noted the relevant reports." He did not directly answer questions about whether China would permit the sale of H200 chips or when contact occurred between President Trump and President Xi. "China has consistently advocated that China and the United States should achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcomes through cooperation," he said.

The United States introduced export control regulations in 2022, during the previous Biden administration, to prevent the export of cutting-edge AI chips to China.

The Trump administration, which took office this year, also restricted exports, judging that if Nvidia's Blackwell fell into China's hands, the U.S. advantage in the AI field could be shaken.

However, as China pursues the development and production of domestic high-performance semiconductors with the goal of 'self-reliance and self-strengthening in advanced technology,' and has achieved results one by one, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been persuading President Trump to target the Chinese market through a modified version of Blackwell with somewhat reduced performance.