Donald Trump has indicated he may permit Nvidia to sell a downgraded version of its advanced Blackwell artificial intelligence chip to China, potentially easing export restrictions. Speaking at a briefing on Monday, the US president said he was open to negotiations over a “somewhat enhanced – in a negative way” Blackwell chip, which he suggested could be downgraded by 30-50%.
The comments come after Trump struck an unprecedented deal with Nvidia and AMD to grant export licences for previously banned chips to China in exchange for 15% of sales revenue. That agreement covers Nvidia’s H20 chips and AMD’s MI308 chips, which were banned in April but recently cleared for shipment.
Analysts have raised alarm that supplying China with US technology could help Beijing compete in artificial intelligence. Harry Krejsa of the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology warned that H20 chips, while not the best for training, are highly capable for inference tasks that are increasingly central to AI development. “Make no mistake, lifting export restrictions on H20s means we are directly equipping Beijing with the tools it needs to compete on the AI frontier,” he said.
Republican congressman John Moolenaar, head of the House China committee, expressed concern over the revenue-sharing arrangement, calling it a “cut of the proceeds” from advanced chip sales. Trump defended the deal, stating he had initially demanded 20% but accepted Nvidia’s offer of 15% for the country.
Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang has met repeatedly with Trump regarding China export restrictions but has not commented on the revenue-sharing deal. The Chinese foreign ministry reiterated its opposition to US technology measures, accusing Washington of “maliciously containing and suppressing China”.
