【By Observer Net, Ruan Jiaqi】

After two months of Huang Renxun's active efforts and lobbying, it seems that NVIDIA's chip sales to China are still in a poor state.

According to reports by Bloomberg and others on the 24th, on Tuesday local time, David Peters, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement, revealed that two months after the Trump administration approved the export of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, NVIDIA had not yet sold any H200 chips to China.

During a hearing before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Democratic Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove asked how many H200 chips had been approved for export to China, and Peters said bluntly: "As far as I know, the number is zero so far."

The Chinese embassy in the U.S. and NVIDIA have not commented on this. The report pointed out that Peters' testimony came at a sensitive time: investors are waiting for NVIDIA's quarterly report to be released on Wednesday, which may elaborate on the company's progress in re-entering the profitable Chinese market.

On April 30, 2025, Huang Renxun attended an event at the White House and shook hands with U.S. President Trump. IC Photo

According to the report, Peters also emphasized during the hearing that the U.S. is intensifying efforts to crack down on the smuggling of advanced semiconductors in the AI field, and will take a tough approach to investigate companies violating export control regulations.

When asked whether NVIDIA's collaboration with engineers from DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, involved any violations, Peters refused to comment, stating only that "regardless of who the violator is, the law will be enforced equally."

However, on the issue of semiconductor smuggling, Peters claimed that such activities "do exist" and "are happening," and has listed them as a priority for the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) enforcement work; to strengthen deterrence, he also proposed extending the statute of limitations for related cases to 10 years and increasing penalties to more than four times the value of the illegal transactions.

Interestingly, recently, senior officials from the Trump administration have claimed that DeepSeek's AI model was trained using NVIDIA's most advanced AI chips, which could violate U.S. export controls. The U.S. falsely claims that DeepSeek needs to remove the relevant equipment.

On February 24, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning responded at a regular press conference, saying that she was not familiar with the specific situation. Regarding the issue of U.S. chips exported to China, China has repeatedly stated its principle position.

Reuters reported that due to the control restrictions set in the U.S. process, the shipment of advanced AI chips to China remains stalled.

On December 8 last year, U.S. President Trump announced that he would allow NVIDIA to export its H200 chips to China. However, he also stated that the decision came with conditions, including ensuring what the U.S. calls "national security," and the U.S. government would receive a 25% share. The U.S. Department of Commerce is currently finalizing the agreement details.

Upon the announcement, NVIDIA immediately requested its supply chain to increase production of the H200 chips, anticipating strong demand from the Chinese market.

However, two months later, the Financial Times cited sources saying that the U.S. government was still conducting so-called "national security reviews," and the license had not been issued, leaving the final approval of H200 chip exports pending.

This January, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued new regulations to ease restrictions on H200 chip exports to China, but required joint review of all license applications by the State Department, Defense Department, and Energy Department. A source said that the Department of Commerce had completed the assessment, but the State Department insisted on pushing for stricter restrictions, claiming that it aimed to "reduce the risk of China using H200 chips to harm U.S. national security," a stance that greatly frustrated NVIDIA. A source said, "The State Department has made things very difficult."

According to insiders, under the multiple uncertainties, Chinese customers have not placed orders with NVIDIA before the licensing conditions are clear, and some suppliers have also suspended production of key components for the H200 chips.

At the beginning of the year, NVIDIA founder and CEO Huang Renxun again visited multiple cities in China, including Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Taipei.

When Huang Renxun visited Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Taipei in China, he also admitted that because the Chinese side was still evaluating import licenses for related product components, the company had not received any new orders for H200 chips. Although he emphasized that H200 was highly suitable for the Chinese market and there was strong demand, he could only say that the export license was still in the final approval stage.

During his trip, he also mentioned that due to the Chinese side still deciding whether to allow the import of NVIDIA's product components, the company had not received any orders for H200 chips from Chinese customers.

According to Huang Renxun, during his days in China, he met with customers and officials, but had not received any new orders for H200 chips. He emphasized that H200 was highly suitable for the Chinese market and there was strong demand, while also admitting that the relevant export license was still in the final approval stage.

At a regular press conference on January 29, a reporter from AFP quoted reports asking: "China has approved the import of the first batch of NVIDIA's H200 AI chips. Can the Foreign Ministry confirm this? What signal does this send for Sino-U.S. relations?"

In response, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jikun said: "We have repeatedly responded to related issues, and specific questions are recommended to be inquired with the relevant Chinese authorities."

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Original: toutiao.com/article/7610601791620694574/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.