Trump administration considers tighter curbs on Nvidia's H20 chip export to China: Report

The Trump administration is now exploring additional curbs on the sale of Nvidia's H20 chips to China, according to a Bloomberg report.

However, discussions on the matter are currently at an early stage as the new team works through policy priorities.

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The H20 chip which can be used to develop and run artificial intelligence (AI) software and services is a scaled-down product that is designed to meet already existing US curbs on shipments to China, according to the report.

This comes after Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said he would be “very strong” on semiconductor controls, though he didn't providing specifics.

Lutnick was Trump’s pick to lead the agency that also oversees chip trade curbs, according to the report.

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The report quoted an Nvidia spokesperson as saying in a statement that the company “is ready to work with the administration as it pursues its own approach to AI.”

Nvidia shares fell as much as 6.9% after this, according to the report.

This also comes at a time when Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released its AI model which was developed at a fraction of the cost, compared to competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Meta. It also runs on older Nvidia chips.

This emerged as a potential threat to the US firms, resulting in tech stocks including Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle Corp. and Google losing a total of almost $1 trillion in market value on Monday.

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A decision to tighten restrictions on Nvidia exporting may further escalate tensions between the US and China.

On top of it, Nvidia's revenues can also get hurt due to the export restrictions to China, the largest market for semiconductors.