BIS Relaxes Export License Review for H200 Chips to China and Macau – But Adds Compliance Burdens and Certification Risk

Instead of reviewing these license requests under a presumption of denial, BIS will instead conduct a case-by-case review. But hold everything, there is a price to be paid to collect the information needed even to apply for one of these licenses.

How Did We Get Here?

This rule comes on the back of President Trump’s December 8, 2025, announcement in which he said that Nvidia would be allowed to ship its H200s to “approved customers” in China, in exchange for 25% of the revenue being turned over to the US government. Indeed, the rule coincides with the announcement of a 25% tariff on the H200 and similar chips. Given that most Nvidia chips are manufactured abroad, this may be a way for the US government to collect its 25% cut without running afoul of the Export Control Reform Act’s prohibition against charging fees in connection with the submission, processing, or consideration of license applications). President Trump added that the same permissions would be granted to AMD, Intel, and other American companies selling similar chips to Nvidia’s H200s.

The H200, considered to be Nvidia’s second most powerful graphics processing unit, requires a license for destinations in Country Groups D:1, D:4, and D:5, excluding destinations also in groups A:5 and A:6. A license is also required for any entity whose headquarters or ultimate parent company’s headquarters are in Macau or Country Group D:5. Recall that the worldwide license requirements introduced through the Biden Administration’s Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion have been scrapped, though they still appear in the Export Administration Regulations.

President Trump explained that the new licensing policy will “support American jobs, strengthen U.S. Manufacturing, and benefit American taxpayers.” Under Secretary for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler echoed these sentiments in a recent press release, stating, “Export controls should evolve with changes in technology, while protecting national security. Permitting the sale of the H200 to China under controlled conditions will strengthen the American technology ecosystem.”

To Whom, When, and How Can H200s Be Exported?

The rule allows license applicants to move from a presumption of denial to a case-by-case license review policy for exports from the United States destined to China or Macau for advanced computing commodities with a total processing performance (TPP) less than 21,000 (as defined in Technical Note 2 to ECCNs 3A090.a and 3A090.b) and a “total DRAM bandwidth” less than 6,500 GBs (i.e., aggregate memory bandwidth in gigabytes per second between the integrated circuit and dynamic random access memory). Chips with these characteristics include the NVIDIA H200 or AMD MI325X.

The new licensing policy is for exports from the United States only. Applications for reexport or transfer licenses are still subject to a presumption of denial. In other words, if these chips are fabbed outside the United States, they will need to be imported into the United States (and pay a 25% duty) before they can be exported under an export license.

A presumption of denial will also remain on applications to export, reexport, or transfer H200s and H200 equivalents to an entity headquartered in, or whose ultimate parent company is headquartered in, Macau or Country Group D:5.

For export license requests to qualify for case-by-case review, applicants must provide certain certifications and information, as follows:

1. Provide, at the time of the license, the total number of units of any artificial intelligence (AI) commodity described in the license application that were shipped to the United States for end use in the United States. The applicant must also provide the commodity’s performance specifications to BIS.

2. Certify — and provide “necessary supporting data” — that there are sufficient supplies of the product in the United States such that fulfillment of existing US orders will not be delayed, and that manufacturing capacity for US end users will not be diverted from similar-node or more-advanced integrated circuits to produce the chips intended for export.

3. Supply evidence demonstrating that the aggregate TPP of the AI commodities to be exported will not exceed 50% of the aggregate TPP of AI commodities shipped to customers in the United States for US end uses.

4. Confirm that the commodities will not go to a proscribed party or to restricted military, military-intelligence, or weapons-related end uses or end users.

5. Obtain and submit to BIS a description of the ultimate consignee’s Know Your Customer procedures to prevent unauthorized remote access by the restricted end uses or end users described in #4 above.

6. Provide BIS a list of any intended “Infrastructure-as-a-Service” (IaaS) remote end users located in Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, Macau, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela, or who are headquartered, or whose ultimate parent company is headquartered, in any of those countries.

7. If the ultimate consignee or end user provides IaaS, verify that the ultimate consignee or end user:

• Is compliant with the restrictions of #4 above.

• Will not transfer model weights trained on the AI commodities to any end user not previously disclosed or without authorization of BIS.

• Will not provide a party described in #4 with access to any algorithm trained on the exported commodities.

8. Describe the physical security for the ultimate consignee.
9. Confirm that prior to export, every shipment will be reviewed by a qualified third-party testing lab (i.e., headquartered in the United States, having relevant expertise, and lacking a financial stake in the ultimate consignee).

What Is Next?

As long as the current thaw in US-China trade relations persists, we expect that this change in licensing policy will pave way for BIS granting licenses to export H200 chips to Chinese customers, at least for any exporters with the courage and wherewithal to apply.

We are also keeping an eye on US Congress. There are reports that even some members of the president’s party are quietly working on a legislative effort to impose additional restrictions on exports of H200 chips to China. And of course, whether the People’s Republic of China government will actually allow Chinese companies to purchase these chips is another matter. Meanwhile, contact your export controls counsel to see if you want to apply for one of these licenses, given the fact gathering and certification process, and keep checking this space for further developments.