Trump administration to rescind, modify AI chip export curbs

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been particularly noisy about this issue, telling CNBC earlier this month that the market for AI chips in China could reach $50 billion in the next couple of years, and it was important for U.S. firms to have access to that market.

And Nvidia has a dog in this fight. Biden banned Nvidia from selling its H20 chip in China, a move that cost the company $5.5 billion in writedowns. Nvidia’s most powerful chips, including the A100, H100, and B1100, are already banned from export to China, also from Biden-era restrictions.

In a posting on X, Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, said not to pop the champagne corks yet. “I’m not saying that some of the diffusion rules could be favorable for NVIDIA as I think a number of the rules from the Biden admin did not accomplish what they were intended to. But reading into this, it seems rules will be replaced and I doubt China will be opened up quickly as we navigate some type of trade deal,” he wrote.

Bloomberg has reported that President Trump is interested in easing restrictions for the UAE, and the UAE has been pushing pretty hard for such new deal, and has promised to invest as much as $1.4 trillion over the next decade in U.S. technology.

President Trump’s Middle East trip runs from May 13 to May 16.