Nvidia’s AI Chip Sales to China Tied to Rare Earths Trade Talks, Says Commerce Secretary

Nvidia plans to resume sales of its H20 GPUs to China after nods of approval from the U.S. government.

The Nvidia logo on a screen during a keynote address by Nvidia founder, President and CEO Jensen Huang at CES 2017 at The Venetian Las Vegas on Jan. 4, 2017. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The United States’ decision to allow Nvidia to resume selling China artificial intelligence (AI) chips is tied to recent trade negotiations over rare-earth exports, according to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

“In the magnets deal with the Chinese, we told them that we would start to resell them,” Lutnick said on Tuesday in an interview on CNBC, referring to recent talks held in London and Geneva in a bid to de-escalate trade tensions after U.S. and Chinese reciprocal tariffs had reached 145 percent and 125 percent, respectively.