The Trump administration is drafting sweeping new export control rules that would require U.S. government approval for nearly all international sales of advanced artificial intelligence chips, according to reports from Bloomberg and the Financial Times. The proposed framework would expand existing restrictions, which currently cover about 40 countries, into a global licensing system managed by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The draft rules establish a tiered review process. Shipments of up to 1,000 of Nvidia's GB300 GPUs would undergo a standard review, with some exemption paths available. Larger orders face increased scrutiny, and deployments exceeding 200,000 GB300 units owned by a single company in one country would require the host government to participate in the approval process. The U.S. would only greenlight such large-scale exports to allied nations that make security commitments and invest in American AI infrastructure.
This development follows a period of regulatory uncertainty, particularly regarding China. Nvidia's business in China has been severely impacted. The company has quietly halted production of its H200 chips for the Chinese market at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), reallocating that capacity to its next-generation Vera Rubin chips. Despite receiving U.S. approval in December for some H200 shipments to China—with a condition that the U.S. government take a 25% cut—Nvidia CFO Colette Kress confirmed on a recent earnings call that the company has "yet to generate any revenue" from China and is unsure if Beijing will allow any imports at all.
Kress also highlighted the rise of Chinese competitors, noting a string of recent IPOs from Chinese chip companies that "have the potential to disrupt the structure of the global AI industry over the long term." Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang indicated that the company's $30 billion participation in OpenAI's recent $110 billion funding round "might be the last time" Nvidia invests in the AI startup, as he expects OpenAI to go public soon.
The news contributed to a market reaction, with Nvidia (NVDA) stock falling around 1.7% and AMD dropping approximately 2% in afternoon trading following the reports.
