Nvidia is set to resume China chip sales after months of regulatory whiplash

Core Insights - Nvidia is filing applications to restart sales of its H20 artificial intelligence chips to China, following a period of regulatory changes and discussions with U.S. officials [1][6] - The company anticipates receiving U.S. government licenses soon and plans to introduce a new "RTX Pro" chip tailored for the Chinese market, which is claimed to be fully compliant with regulations [2] Group 1: Regulatory Environment - The H20 chip is central to the U.S.-China tech standoff, being the most powerful chip Nvidia can legally sell to China under current export controls, designed for inference tasks rather than training new AI systems [3] - The Trump administration's restrictions in April could have cost Nvidia between $15 billion to $16 billion in revenue, based on Chinese firms' spending in the first quarter [5] - The restrictions were briefly lifted after Nvidia's CEO met with Trump, where promises of U.S. investments and job creation were made in exchange for continued access to chip sales [6] Group 2: Market Dynamics - Chinese tech giants like ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have been stockpiling H20 chips in anticipation of stricter export controls, attracted by the chip's superior memory bandwidth and Nvidia's software ecosystem [4] - The ongoing situation highlights the balancing act U.S. policymakers face between national security concerns and commercial interests, suggesting potential future reversals in policy [10]