Sacks signaled in an interview with Bloomberg Tech on Friday that he was uncertain about whether President Trump’s efforts to allow shipments of H200 to challenge Chinese players such as Huawei Technologies would work.
- President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 chips to “approved customers” in China and other countries.
- Bloomberg Intelligence estimates annual H200 revenue in China to be a $10 billion opportunity if the country accepts the chips.
- Sacks cited news articles and said that China is rejecting the chips in favor of its own domestically developed semiconductors.
White House AI czar David Sacks reportedly said on Friday that China is rejecting Nvidia’s H200 AI chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors.
Sacks signaled in an interview with Bloomberg Tech on Friday that he was uncertain about whether President Trump’s efforts to allow shipments of H200 to challenge Chinese players such as Huawei Technologies would work.
“They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks reportedly said, citing news articles. “Apparently they don’t want them, and I think the reason for that is they want semiconductor independence.”
Sacks’ Justification
President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 chips to “approved customers” in China and other countries, provided certain conditions are fulfilled. The President said in a post on Truth Social that Chinese President Xi Jinping responded positively to the proposal.
H200 is roughly 18 months behind the company’s top-tier products including Blackwell chips and the upcoming Rubin series. Trump said on Monday that Blackwell and Rubin chips are being left out of the deal to ensure America is ahead of the AI rivalry between the two nations.
Sacks on Friday reportedly defended Trump’s decision to clear H200 for export. “That was part of our calculation, of selling not the best but lagging chips to China, is that you can take market share away from Huawei, but I think the Chinese government has figured that out, and that’s why they’re not allowing them,” he said.
Not all lawmakers are seemingly in agreement. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that a group of seven Democratic U.S. senators including Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick criticizing Trump’s decision to clear H200 chips for export to China. The senators highlighted concerns pertaining to national security if the chips were to boost the Asian country’s military and technological capabilities.
Cost Of Rejection
Bloomberg Intelligence estimates annual H200 revenue in China to be a $10 billion opportunity if the country accepts the chips.
An Nvidia spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company continues to work with the U.S. administration on H200 licenses but highlighted that three years of export controls “fueled America’s foreign competitors and cost US taxpayers billions of dollars.” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has also previously said that he’s unsure whether China would accept the H200 chips were the U.S. to relax restrictions on sales.
Earlier in the day, Bloomberg also reported that China is considering incentive packages of up to $70 billion for chipmakers to boost its domestic industry amid its intensifying rivalry with the U.S. in the artificial intelligence race. Officials are reportedly considering a package of subsidies and other financial assistance that could range from 200 billion yuan to 500 billion yuan.
How Did Stocktwits Users React?
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around NVDA stayed within the ‘neutral’ territory while message volume stayed at ‘low’ levels.
NVDA stock has gained 30% this year and by about 27% over the past 12 months.
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