US eases chip restrictions as China's AI progress forces policy shift
發佈日期: 2026-05-18 20:59
TVB News
During US President Donald Trump's visit to China, foreign media reported the US has approved the sale of Nvidia H200 chips to ten Chinese companies.
Some academics believe the US previously underestimated China's AI development and is now shifting its policy from containment to cooperation.
This Beijing-based tech company specialises in Generative Engine Optimization or GEO, which helps businesses gain visibility in AI-generated content by integrating with AI platforms. Its CEO says using ChatGPT from the US costs five to six times more than using China's DeepSeek, but ChatGPT is capable of handling more complex tasks.
He says for coding tasks, overseas AI models can often produce a complete system in one or two attempts, while domestic models require more iterations.
However, he believes the gap could close quickly over time, partly because earlier limitations were due to insufficient chips and computing power.
That gap may now narrow after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's visit to China.
Reuters later reported that the US has approved exports of Nvidia's second-most powerful AI chip, the H200, to ten Chinese firms.
However, delivery has not yet occurred because of regulatory pressures on the Chinese side.
Professor Wang Yiwei from Renmin University specialising in international relations said this move shows the US is recalibrating its high-tech policy toward China. Strict export controls, he argued, have instead accelerated China's independent innovation in AI.
He said the US did not expect China to progress so quickly in core technologies. Once China develops its own chips, prices could drop dramatically, putting the US at a disadvantage.
He added that the US tends to be pragmatic, summarising the shift as "If I cannot beat you, then I join you."
