China has not yet received any Nvidia H200 chips, US official says

WASHINGTON – None of Nvidia’s second-most advanced AI chips, known as the H200, have been sold yet to Chinese customers, a US Commerce Department official said on Feb 24.

“My understanding is that none so far,” assistant secretary for export enforcement David Peters said at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing when asked about the prized semiconductors.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington and Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

US President Donald Trump’s administration in January gave a formal green light to

China-bound sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips

with conditions, drawing fire from US lawmakers and former officials of both parties.

The administration, led by White House artificial intelligence czar David Sacks, has said shipping advanced AI chips to China discourages Chinese competitors – such as heavily sanctioned Huawei – from redoubling efforts to catch up with the most advanced chip designs from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.

But China hawks fear the chips could easily be diverted from commercial uses to help supercharge China’s military and threaten US dominance in AI. For now, shipments of the chips remain stalled over guardrails built into the process.

Mr Peters was also asked by Republican US Representative Bill Huizenga about chip smuggling into China.

Mr Huizenga referenced a Reuters report that

Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek used Nvidia’s most advanced chip

to train its latest AI model, likely in violation of US export controls.

“Yes, there is chip smuggling, it is going on,” said Mr Peters. “We are actively addressing this problem. It is among our top enforcement priorities.” REUTERS