DMR News

Advancing Digital Conversations

Trump Open to Allowing Nvidia to Sell Downgraded Top Chip to China

ByHilary Ong

Aug 13, 2025

Trump Open to Allowing Nvidia to Sell Downgraded Top Chip to China

President Donald Trump has indicated he may allow Nvidia to sell a downgraded version of its Blackwell AI chip to China, provided the performance is reduced. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Trump said he could make a deal if Nvidia cuts the system’s capabilities by 30% to 50%. He confirmed he plans to meet with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to discuss the matter, calling Blackwell “the latest and the greatest in the world.”

Nvidia’s Push for China Market Access

Huang has been lobbying for access to the Chinese market after U.S. restrictions effectively shut Nvidia out. The discussions come shortly after Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay the U.S. government 15% of revenue from AI chip sales to China in exchange for export licenses — a rate Trump said he initially wanted at 20% before Huang negotiated it down. The chips covered by that arrangement include Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 models.

Experts say allowing downgraded Blackwell chips into China could serve a dual purpose. Paul Triolo of DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group described it as a way to keep China reliant on non-cutting-edge technology while still giving U.S. companies a foothold in the market. Huang has argued that cutting China off entirely from U.S. chips would only accelerate domestic alternatives from companies like Huawei, making it harder for the U.S. to maintain influence in the global AI sector.

Huawei has been developing its Ascend series of processors, aiming to compete with Nvidia’s offerings. While Chinese companies have been using stockpiled Nvidia A100 and H100 chips for AI model training, those reserves are expected to run out. Triolo noted that Huawei’s processors are not yet on par with Nvidia’s, but a new version of its 910 chip, expected next year, may close the performance gap.

Balancing Market Access and Strategic Leverage

Allowing a weakened version of Nvidia’s Blackwell chip into China could be a calculated move — keeping U.S. firms in the market while limiting the technological edge of Chinese AI development. However, the risk is that even downgraded chips might be good enough for China to make rapid progress, especially if paired with domestic innovation. This could turn a short-term trade win into a long-term strategic gamble.


Featured image credit: Wikimedia Commons

For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.

Hilary Ong

Hello, from one tech geek to another. Not your beloved TechCrunch writer, but a writer with an avid interest in the fast-paced tech scenes and all the latest tech mojo. I bring with me a unique take towards tech with a honed applied psychology perspective to make tech news digestible. In other words, I deliver tech news that is easy to read.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *