House Committee Chair Seeks Briefing on Sale of Nvidia H200 Chips to China
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., has asked the Commerce Department to explain how the Trump administration arrived at its decision to allow Nvidia to sell its advanced H200 AI chip to China (see 2512080059), the panel said Dec. 16.
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In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Moolenaar requested a briefing by Jan. 15 “on the evidence and analysis underlying the H200 decision.” The lawmaker suggested that a flawed assessment may have affected the outcome.
While the administration's decision may have been based on the view that China’s Huawei has chip capabilities that “increasingly rival Nvidia’s,” Huawei’s flagship chip, the 910C, is actually made in Taiwan and South Korea, Moolenaar wrote. The lawmaker believes Commerce “has taken commendable action to crack down on this blatant violation of export controls” by threatening to fine Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) $1 billion (see 2504080040). China will now be forced to produce the 910C domestically, but it is unclear whether it can do so, according to Moolenaar.
The ”910C should be considered a case study in ensuring the effectiveness of U.S. export control policy,” he wrote. “Controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment and high-bandwidth memory have prevented China’s chip champions [Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC)] and [ChangXin Memory Technology (CXMT)] from producing the key components required for producing advanced AI chips at scale.”
Commerce didn't respond to a request for comment on the letter. The letter came days after Moolenaar criticized the H200 decision, saying China will use the chips to strengthen its military and surveillance capabilities and will seek to steal Nvidia’s technology (see 2512090050). Seven Senate Democrats concerned about the decision have also weighed in with a letter, asking Commerce to answer a list of questions (see 2512150037).
In August, Moolenaar proposed a “rolling technical threshold” (RTT) approach in which AI chips sold to China would provide only a “marginal” improvement over the most advanced Chinese-made chips (see 2508260041). He also would limit China’s aggregate AI computing power to 10% of that of the U.S.