War on the Rocks The Chip That Crossed the Line? NVIDIA, China, and the Great Power Tech Race
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Aug 14, 2025 
Liza Tobin, a former CIA staffer and China expert, and Brad Carson, a former congressman and defense official, discuss a pivotal shift in U.S. export policy allowing NVIDIA's H20 chips back into China. They examine the implications for American tech supremacy and national security amidst rising U.S.-China tensions. The duo debates whether NVIDIA's justifications are persuasive and how this move could reshape AI and semiconductor strategies, stressing its significance for everyday Americans in an increasingly competitive tech landscape.
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ARI's Role In The H20 Fight
- Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI) pushes for export controls to preserve U.S. AI leadership and safety guardrails.
- ARI actively resisted the Trump administration's reversal allowing H20 chip sales to China.
Why The H20 Matters
- The H20 is an inference chip optimized to run models, not the top-tier H100 training chip.
- Inference chips now play a larger role in model training and deployment, raising their strategic value.
DeepSeek Exposed Export Control Impact
- DeepSeek's R1 model jumpstarted Chinese AI progress partly by using H20-class inference chips.
- Reauthorizing H20 sales effectively rewinds export-control gains and gives China more runway to advance AI.