Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, right, speaks alongside President Donald Trump about investing in America, at the White House in Washington, on April 30, 2025.
President Donald Trump's decision to let U.S. tech giant Nvidia sell more advanced semiconductors to China is getting pushback from some Republicans wary of giving Beijing an edge in the global race to AI dominance.
The agreement, which Trump announced in a Truth Social post Monday evening, would allow Nvidia to sell its H200 artificial intelligence chips to China on the condition that the U.S. government gets 25% of the sales.
The H200 chips aren't Nvidia's most advanced, but are more powerful than the company's H20s, which were previously developed specifically for the China market.
The White House, over the summer, gave approval for Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices to sell their less-powerful chips to China in exchange for 15% of sales revenue. Beijing reportedly told companies not to buy those chips.
Chinese President Xi Jinping "responded positively" to the latest proposal, Trump wrote in the social media post.
CNBC has reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.
Experts warn that giving China access to the better chips will shrink America's hardware advantage and help Chinese developers vastly improve their AI models and other tech.
Some of Trump's Republican allies appear to agree.
"Alarm bells go off in my head here," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told CNBC on Tuesday when asked about the chip sales agreement.
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