Trump blessing Nvidia AI chip sales to China gets chilly reception from GOP

President Donald Trump's determination to fto U.S. tech elephantine Nvidia merchantability much precocious semiconductors to China is getting pushback from immoderate Republicans wary of giving Beijing an borderline successful the planetary contention to AI dominance.

The agreement, which Trump announced successful a Truth Social post Monday evening, would let Nvidia to merchantability its H200 artificial quality chips to China connected the information that the U.S. authorities gets 25% of the sales.

The H200 chips aren't Nvidia's astir precocious chip, but are much almighty than the company's H20s, which was antecedently developed specifically for the China market.

The White House, implicit the summer, gave approval for Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices to merchantability their less-powerful chips to China successful speech for 15% of income revenue. Beijing reportedly told companies not to bargain those chips.

Chinese President Xi Jinping "responded positively" to the latest proposal, Trump wrote successful the societal media post.

CNBC has reached retired to the Chinese embassy successful Washington, D.C., for comment.

Experts warn that giving China entree to the amended chips volition shrink America's hardware vantage and assistance Chinese developers vastly amended their AI models and different tech.

Some of Trump's Republican allies look to agree.

"Alarm bells spell disconnected successful my caput here," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told CNBC connected Tuesday erstwhile asked astir the spot income agreement.

"I don't caput doing mean concern with China. But if you tin beryllium to maine this volition accelerate their subject capability, I'll reason it," Graham said.

"My wide presumption connected this is that China's advancement connected AI is astir wholly parasitic connected our technology, successful peculiar connected our hardware," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said connected Capitol Hill earlier Tuesday.

"So I don't privation China to triumph the AI race. I privation to triumph the AI race," Hawley said. "But if we privation to bushed China, I deliberation we request to constrain their quality to leverage our ain technology, and I deliberation we would privation to trim their entree to our hardware, not summation it."

Hawley did not straight knock Trump, and noted that the president is privy to much accusation astir the concern than helium is. "So I deliberation helium deserves immoderate deference here," helium said.

"But I deliberation successful the wide substance I would privation to constrain American hardware going to China," helium added.

The U.S. Select Committee connected China, a Republican-led sheet formed to absorption connected the "threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party," echoed Hawley's concerns.

"Right now, China is acold down the United States successful chips that powerfulness the AI race. Because the H200s are acold amended than what China tin nutrient domestically, some successful capableness and scale, @nvidia selling these chips to China could assistance it drawback up to America successful full compute," the committee said successful a connection connected X.

Beijing volition usage the H200s, which boast importantly much processing powerfulness and representation bandwidth than China's apical chips, "to fortify its subject capabilities and totalitarian surveillance," the panel's connection said.

"Finally, Nvidia should beryllium nether nary illusions – China volition rip disconnected its technology, wide nutrient it themselves, and question to extremity Nvidia arsenic a competitor," the sheet said. "That is China's playbook and it is utilizing it successful each captious industry."

Not each Republicans are piling on.

"I don't person a existent occupation with providing them immoderate [chips]," Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told CNBC. "But we've got to cognize wherever it is, however they're utilizing it, those sorts of things."

But determination is vocal enactment among some parties for slowing China's quality to get the world's champion chips.

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., past week introduced bipartisan legislation that would nonstop the Trump medication to contradict export licenses for precocious chips to China and different overseas adversaries for astatine slightest 30 months.

"The champion AI chips are made by American companies. Denying Beijing entree to these AI chips is indispensable to our nationalist security," Ricketts said successful a property merchandise unveiling the bill.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., 1 of the bill's cosponsors, said, "It's important that we support American AI innovation from Communist China to triumph the AI race."

Democrats have been sounding alarms astir the Trump administration's willingness to merchantability China amended AI chips.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., highlighted the information that the Department of Justice touted a crackdown connected a "major China-linked AI tech smuggling network" soon earlier Trump announced the H200 income agreement.

"Trump is letting NVIDIA export cutting-edge AI chips that his ain DOJ revealed are being illegally smuggled into China," she wrote connected X.

"His ain DOJ called these chips 'building blocks of AI superiority,'" she noted.

Warren added that she wants Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to "answer to Congress connected wherefore they are selling retired US security."

— CNBC's Mary Catherine Wellons and Justin Papp contributed to this report.