White House bars Nvidia from selling top AI chip to China
Blackwell processors will be reserved for the United States.
The Trump administration will not allow Nvidia to sell its most advanced artificial intelligence chip, known as the Blackwell, to China, the White House confirmed on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.
"As for the most advanced chips, the Blackwell chip, that's not something we're interested in selling to China at this time," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said during a press conference.
The announcement reinforces United States efforts to restrict China's access to cutting-edge semiconductors and maintain a technological edge in artificial intelligence and supercomputing.
Trump says Blackwell chips will stay in the United States
The decision follows remarks from President Donald Trump, who said Sunday that the world's most powerful AI chips would be reserved for American companies and kept out of China and other countries.
Speculation had grown since August over whether the administration would approve exports of a scaled-down version of the Blackwell chip. Trump had also suggested he might discuss chip exports with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their recent summit in South Korea, but later confirmed that the issue was not raised.
Nvidia, the world's most valuable chipmaker, has faced tightening export rules since Washington first restricted AI chip sales to China in 2022, forcing the company to design downgraded models for the Chinese market.
