A senior U.S. commerce official told lawmakers on Tuesday that only a small number of Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips have been shipped to China so far, as scrutiny grows over Washington's export controls on advanced technology.
Jeffrey Kessler, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that exports of the H200 chip had begun but remained limited.
"There have been minimal exports of any H200s to China so far," Jeffrey Kessler said. He added that shipments had started, but the number was "very few".
The comments come as the United States faces increasing pressure over how it regulates the sale of advanced AI chips to China amid concerns they could be used for military purposes.
Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday that a unit of telecommunications equipment maker ZTE and two other Chinese companies were among the latest firms to receive U.S. approval to purchase advanced AI chips from Nvidia and AMD.
In May, Reuters reported that the Commerce Department had authorised about 10 Chinese companies to buy Nvidia's H200 processors, although no deliveries had been made at the time. Sources familiar with the matter said Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance were among the companies approved to receive the chips.
Kessler told lawmakers that the Commerce Department had provided Congress with a confidential list detailing H200 licence applications and their status, but did not disclose further information during the hearing.
Sales of Nvidia's H200 chips have become a focal point in the wider technology competition between Washington and Beijing.
The U.S. government has imposed a series of restrictions designed to limit China's access to advanced semiconductors and AI technology, citing national security concerns.
During Tuesday's hearing, Representative Gregory Meeks, the leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticised the Commerce Department for not adding any Chinese companies to its export control list since October.
Gregory Meeks said the gap marked the longest period in more than a decade without new additions to the list. He accused President Donald Trump of using export controls as leverage in broader negotiations with China and argued that safeguards had been weakened through the approval of licences for advanced AI chips.
Kessler defended the department's approach, saying enforcement of existing restrictions remained a priority.
Kessler also signalled that further regulatory action on AI technology and semiconductor exports was being developed.
"I don't want to replace the diffusion rule because I don't think the rule is worth replacing," Jeffrey Kessler told lawmakers, referring to a Biden administration era framework governing global access to advanced AI chips.
He argued that the rule would have hampered the development of the global AI industry but said additional measures were under consideration.
"There will be future regulatory action in the area of chips and AI," Kessler said.
Republican Representative Bill Huizenga used the hearing to question Commerce Department guidance issued on 31 May concerning a potential loophole involving Nvidia's Blackwell chips.
The guidance raised questions about whether subsidiaries of Chinese companies operating outside China could obtain the advanced processors, which are more powerful than the H200.
Bill Huizenga criticised the department's response and questioned why the guidance appeared to allow Chinese companies to retain Blackwell chips that may have been acquired through smuggling or regulatory loopholes.
Kessler said companies that obtained chips without the necessary licences should disclose any violations voluntarily.
Huizenga said the department needed to make clear that such chips could not be retained by unauthorised recipients.
Kessler also defended the Trump administration's decision to ease export controls on the United Arab Emirates.
The move, announced on Friday, makes it easier to export Nvidia AI chips, military equipment, commercial satellites and spacecraft to the Gulf nation, which Washington views as a key regional partner.
The hearing also touched on concerns that some Chinese companies identified as national security risks have yet to be added to the Commerce Department's Entity List.
Reuters reported last month that the administration had delayed plans to place Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek, memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies and more than 100 other companies on the list as it sought to avoid escalating tensions with Beijing.
Companies placed on the Entity List face strict licensing requirements, with approvals for the export of U.S. goods, software and technology typically difficult to obtain.
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