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Nvidia, the world’s largest semiconductor company, is now subject to unexpected new U.S. Export controls on its H20 chip.
Nvidia’s H20 AI chip is the most advanced AI Nvidia could export to China, under U.S. export rules. Last week. NPRreported that CEO Jensen Huang might have talked his way out of new H20 restrictions during a dinner at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, in part by committing that Nvidia would invest in AI data centers in the U.S.
Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, Nvidia announced on Monday that it would spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next four years manufacturing some AI chips in the U.S. Pundits quickly pointed out that the company’s promise was lacking in details.
Several government officials called for tighter export controls for the H20, claiming that the chip was used to train models by China-based AI startup DeepSeek. This included the R1 “reasoning model” which threw U.S. AI into a tizzy in January. Nvidia declined comment.
Becca, a senior writer for TechCrunch, covers venture capital trends and startup companies. She covered the same beat previously for Forbes and Venture Capital Journal.
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