The tale of Nvidia’s HGX H20: How an AI GPU became a political lightning rod

Nvidia’s HGX H20 AI GPU represents a fraction of the company’s revenue, but references to it in the business media far outpace mentions of the company’s much more powerful and lucrative H100 or B200 processors. In fact, this specific GPU model has gained a fair bit of notoriety over the last few months as it has become a lightning rod in the heated U.S.-China trade war.

To a large degree, this happened because HGX H20 was one of only a few GPU models for AI workloads that the Biden administration let Nvidia ship to China without any export licenses. Today’s Trump administration has chosen to use the HGX H20 as a geopolitical tool instead, turning it into a source of federal revenue.

Meanwhile, China reportedly wants to play a similar game, so it is probing whether Nvidia GPUs feature U.S.-mandated tracking features as well as backdoors, and has even asked Chinese companies to halt H20 imports in the meantime, potentially hurting Nvidia’s revenue. This new situation is developing while the Trump administration considers letting Nvidia sell Blackwell-based AI processors to Chinese entities.

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With swirling reports spanning more than a year during the intensifying U.S.-China trade war, the HGX H20 has earned a rare spot of international notoriety. Here’s how the situation has unfolded so far, and where it is potentially headed.