(Yicai) July 16 -- The United States has cleared US chipmakers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices to restart the export of artificial intelligence chips to China.

The Trump administration reversed course on the sale of AI chips to China, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said on US television yesterday. The strategy is to sell Chinese companies enough AI chips so that they “get addicted” to US technologies, he noted, adding that Chinese firms are only getting Nvidia’s “fourth best” AI chip in terms of performance.

The US Department of Commerce will re-examine the license applications of AMD’s MI380 chip series to resume exports to China, the Santa Clara-based firm announced yesterday.

On the same day, Nvidia’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said during a visit to China that the company would file applications to the US government to restart selling its H20 chip series in China, which are expected to be approved soon.

In April, US President Donald Trump expanded the country’s export ban on the most advanced AI chips to include AMD’s MI308 series and Nvidia’s H20 series, which was designed specifically for the Chinese market after the first ban was implemented in 2023.

The curbs on MI308 product exports have caused AMD a loss of USD800 million, according to the company.

US AI chips still face great uncertainties after the ban lift because of the variability of policies between the US and China, He Huishe, director of semiconductor research at Omdia, told Yicai. Chinese companies should continue to diversify their options to better protect their supply chains, so that they can always have the leeway to ‘go ahead or retreat,’ He added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione