A group of 20 national security experts wrote a letter to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to oppose Nvidia resuming sales of its H20 chip to China.

The letter yesterday (28 July) stated the Trump administration’s decision to let Nvidia resume selling its H20 chips to China “represents a strategic misstep that endangers the United States’ economic and military edge” in AI.

Nvidia reconfigured its high-end offerings for China following US export controls on AI chips introduced in October 2023 during President Joe Biden’s administration. The H20 GPU was the top performing chip prior to export restrictions.

Earlier this month, the chipmaker received assurances from US authorities it can resume selling the chip, which could be a financial windfall for Nvidia.

The letter highlighted the H20’s AI inference capabilities as being critical to China’s AI ambitions.

“The H20 is a potent accelerator of China’s frontier AI capabilities, not an outdated AI chip,” according to the letter. “Designed specifically to work around export control thresholds, the H20 is optimised for inference, the process responsible for the dramatic capabilities gains made by the latest generation of frontier AI reasoning models.”

The letter noted for inference tasks, the H20 outperforms even the H100, which is an AI chip the current administration has restricted access to due to its advanced capabilities.

Question of national security
The letter stated selling the H20 chips to China will reduce the number of chips available for US developers. It also claimed the chips will be used to support China’s military and stated loosening restrictions will weaken export controls.

“The decision to ban H20 exports earlier this year was the right one. We ask you to stand by that principle and continue blocking the sale of advanced AI chips to China as America works to maintain its technological edge. This is not a question of trade. It is a question of national security.”

Matt Pottinger, the former deputy national security advisor during Trump’s first term is among the letter’s signatories.

Additional signatures by policymakers and professionals with a background in national security policy include Stewart Baker, a former assistant security of Homeland Security for former President George W. Bush; and David Feith, a former member of the National Security Council.

Last week the Trump administration revealed its AI action plan, designed to solidify the US’ position as the global leader in the face of competition from countries such as China.

The chair of a House of Representatives panel on China recently voiced his opposition to Nvidia resuming sales of its H20 chip in a letter to Lutnick.