The White House recently greenlit exports of Nvidia's H200 AI chips to Chinese buyers. According to sources familiar with the decision, the security assessment concluded the risk was manageable - partly because a Chinese tech giant already provides AI systems with similar capabilities in the domestic market.

The move signals a calculated shift in US semiconductor policy. Rather than blanket restrictions, the administration appears to be evaluating each case based on whether American technology still holds a meaningful edge. When local alternatives already match performance specs, export controls lose their strategic rationale.

For Nvidia, this opens up revenue streams in a massive market. For the broader AI hardware landscape, it highlights how quickly the competitive gap can narrow in cutting-edge computing.