In a significant escalation of technology restrictions targeting China, the United States has officially halted the export of Nvidia’s H20 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese buyers, citing national security concerns and the potential misuse of AI hardware in Chinese supercomputing systems.
According to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA), Nvidia confirmed that the U.S. government informed the company on April 9 that future exports of its H20 chips to China would require government approval, effectively placing an indefinite hold on shipments of the high-performance AI component.
The H20 chip had been the most advanced AI chip legally exportable to China under existing U.S. technology export restrictions. While not as powerful as Nvidia’s state-of-the-art Blackwell chips, the H20 features high-bandwidth memory capable of enhancing AI performance in a range of applications. U.S. officials reportedly based the new restriction on concerns that the chip could be adapted for Chinese military or supercomputing use.
The move further tightens Washington’s chokehold on high-end semiconductor technology sales to Beijing, amid intensifying U.S.-China trade and tech tensions, and follows previous rounds of export control measures introduced in October 2022.
The H20 chip gained attention earlier this year when Chinese AI startup DeepSeek debuted a competitively priced AI model trained using the H20. Reports also revealed that leading Chinese tech giants—including Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance—had collectively placed orders exceeding USD 16 billion for H20 chips in Q1 2025 alone, marking a 40% increase from the previous quarter.
The U.S. government’s crackdown reflects a growing concern over China’s aggressive push to dominate in artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and autonomous systems, areas Washington deems vital to national security.
Although Nvidia’s H20 chip was designed to comply with prior export guidelines, its technical specifications and growing popularity among Chinese AI firms have now placed it squarely in the crosshairs of U.S. policy.
The restrictions arrive at a time of heightened geopolitical strain, as both the U.S. and China remain locked in a widening tariff dispute, and tech competition continues to serve as a battleground for global influence.
Nvidia has not yet issued a formal response on the commercial implications of the decision but acknowledged that the H20 export ban is indefinite and would likely impact short-term sales figures in Asia.