China’s Ministry of Commerce on Friday urged the United States to abandon its “zero-sum mentality” and called for further relaxation of trade restrictions on Chinese technology companies.
Earlier this week, chip giant Nvidia said the U.S. government would approve its application to resume sales of its H20 graphics processing units (GPUs) to China.
Newsweek reached out to the White House by email with a request for comment.
Why It Matters
China is a critical market for Nvidia, accounting for about 15.5 percent of its business as of April. That month, the White House announced that a special license would be required to export Nvidia’s H20 GPU—a chip widely regarded as having contributed to the development of the Chinese AI model DeepSeek.
Chinese officials argue that U.S. restrictions distort global supply chains and run counter to principles of fair competition. U.S. policymakers maintain that restricting advanced AI chips from export to China is necessary to slow the country’s progress on military technology.
What To Know
While acknowledging reports of the expected approval of H20 chips designed to comply with U.S. export rules, China’s Commerce Ministry spokesperson called on Washington to go further.
“We urge the U.S. side to abandon the outdated zero-sum mentality, stop generalizing national security, and unreasonably suppressing Chinese enterprises,” the official said during Friday’s regular press conference.
Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images
The spokesperson described the U.S. export curbs as “undermining the stability of global industry and supply chains.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has linked the planned resumption of Nvidia chip sales to an agreement between President Donald Trump‘s administration and China that restored U.S. access to rare earth minerals and magnets—resources critical to a range of military and civilian applications that China dominates.
Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois said the move “would not only hand our foreign adversaries our most advanced technologies, but is also dangerously inconsistent with this administration’s previously stated position on export controls for China,” according to Reuters.
What People Have Said
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told reporters in Beijing: “It’s so innovative and dynamic here in China that it’s really important that American companies are able to compete and serve the market here.”
Michael Sobolik, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of Countering China’s Great Game, wrote on X: “Equipping the adversary is an elementary mistake in grand strategy, and it is telling that private sector actors like NVIDIA, not national security professionals, advocated for this policy.
“America’s superior computation power is its greatest advantage over China in the AI race. Policymakers should protect this asymmetry jealously.”
What’s Next
The resumption of H20 chip exports could unlock billions in revenue for Nvidia, currently the world’s largest company by market cap, and shape the contours of the global AI industry, projected to be worth $50 billion by the end of the decade.
