Nvidia shares gained 1.7% in the US pre-market after US President Donald Trump announced he would allow the company to sell its H200 AI chips to approved Chinese customers. The decision temporarily eased concerns about Nvidia’s access to one of its largest markets.
This move effectively clarifies the ongoing debate in the US about whether Nvidia and its competitors should be allowed to sell to China to maintain their global leadership.
However, Beijing’s instruction to companies not to use US technologies creates uncertainty as to whether the decision will translate into new sales.Previous export restrictions imposed by Washington had banned the sale of advanced AI chips to China and stifled Nvidia’s growth, despite strong global demand. Morningstar analysts commented, “The US is back and forth on restrictions, but this decision at least opens a path for meaningful AI revenue from China.”
Trump stated that H200 exports could be made for a 25% fee.
However, Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said that this permission would have a limited impact on Nvidia’s Chinese market, and the real breakthrough would come with allowing the export of more advanced chips like Blackwell or Rubin. The US Department of Commerce is clarifying the details of the decision and announced that the same measure will be applied to other AI chip manufacturers such as AMD and Intel. Indeed, AMD and Intel shares rose 1.3% and 0.8% respectively in the preliminary market. China, meanwhile, is rapidly increasing its domestic chip production capacity to reduce its dependence on Nvidia. Morningstar stated that widespread adoption of the H200 in the Chinese ecosystem is not guaranteed in the face of domestic alternatives.Nvidia shares have risen approximately 40% year-to-date, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 index, which has increased by 16.4% in the same period.
