Here & Now Anytime Why Trump is letting Nvidia sell powerful AI chips to China
Dec 9, 2025
Chris Miller, a historian and author of "Chip War," discusses the recent policy shift allowing Nvidia to sell AI chips to China, which could impact the global AI landscape. He explains how this change could benefit China while highlighting its ongoing technological lag. NPR's David Folkenflik dives into Paramount's aggressive bid for Warner Bros., exploring the tangled web of financing involving Trump allies. The conversation raises concerns over future media consolidation and its potential implications for journalism.
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U.S. Loosens Chip Export Restrictions
- Allowing NVIDIA to sell H200 chips to China marks a major shift in U.S. tech policy with big strategic consequences.
- President Trump tied the decision to a claimed 25% cut of sales to the U.S. government, though details remain unclear.
China Still Lags In Chip Production
- Washington believes China currently cannot mass-produce chips at the quality and scale its AI ambitions require.
- Selling advanced chips may therefore be seen as commercially tolerable because China still lags materially in compute capacity.
Workarounds Haven't Matched Global Leaders
- Some Chinese firms tried to innovate around restrictions by using fewer, cheaper chips, but results lag global leaders.
- DeepSeq itself attributes its shortcomings to lacking sufficient high-end compute for training.
