Top Republican on China panel objects to resumption of Nvidia H20 chip shipments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The chairman of the House Select Committee on China objected on Friday to the resumption of Nvidia selling H20 AI chips to China in a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, warning it may advance China's AI capability and help its companies capture global AI model market share.

The decision this week to allow Nvidia to resume sales reversed an export restriction imposed in April that is designed to keep the most advanced AI chips out of Chinese hands over national security concerns, an issue that has found rare bipartisan support. It drew swift questions and criticism from U.S. legislators.

"The Commerce Department made the right call in banning the H20," Republican Representative John Moolenaar wrote on Friday. "We can't let the (Chinese Communist Party) use American chips to train AI models that will power its military, censor its people, and undercut American innovation."

Nvidia said earlier this week it had been assured by the U.S. government that it would be permitted to resume sales to China of its H20 graphics processing unit, an important source of revenue for the world's most valuable company and a sign the United States was relaxing restrictions on the export of AI technology to China.

Shares of Nvidia turned negative on Friday after the news regarding the artificial intelligence chip.

Nvidia declined to comment. A representative of the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, Lutnick said the planned resumption of sales of the H20 chip was part of U.S. negotiations on rare earths and magnets.

According to an April 2025 report by the Select Committee, Nvidia's H20 chips were instrumental in enabling an AI model by Chinese company DeepSeek that surprised the world earlier this year.

Tech giants like China's Tencent also have used H20s to train massive AI systems, Moolenaar said.

(Reporting by Chris Sanders and Karen Freifeld; Writing by Maiya Keidan; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Alexandra Hudson and Nia Williams)