U.S. Nvidia in talks to sell scaled-down AI chips to China

U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker Nvidia is in discussions with the White House to sell a simplified version of its next-generation Blackwell GPU chips to China, Chief Executive Jensen Huang said on Thursday.

Huang said that President Donald Trump understands that developing AI on American technology globally helps the U.S. maintain an edge in the AI race.

Earlier this month, Trump suggested Nvidia could be allowed to sell a scaled-down version of the chip in China, which would be 30-50% less capable than the standard model.

Concerns remain in Washington that China could leverage U.S. AI capabilities for military purposes. In May, reports indicated that Nvidia was preparing a lower-cost variant of its Blackwell chips specifically for the Chinese market.

Nvidia’s decision to exclude potential China sales from its current-quarter forecast reflects ongoing U.S.-China trade tensions. Huang added that the AI market in China is worth around $50 billion to Nvidia, and the company hopes to capture a significant portion of that market.

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