Nvidia's advanced chips still reach China despite US export bans—here's how

Nvidia faces renewed scrutiny over how its most advanced AI chips reach China despite US export restrictions, amid controversy over CEO Jensen Huang’s reported affair with an executive suspected of smuggling chips. The company’s valuation has soared to $4.5 trillion, matching Apple’s. The US bans exports of Nvidia’s top-end Blackwell and Rubin GPUs to China, citing security concerns and military applications, while easing controls on the less powerful H200 chip with a 25 per cent sales cut. Chinese firms reportedly access advanced chips through smuggling or by renting computing power from data centres in third countries like Malaysia. Chinese-made chips from Huawei are improving but lag Nvidia, with DeepSeek reportedly planning to train its next model on Huawei hardware. Analysts note Chinese chips require more time and engineering, though state subsidies and cheap electricity offset costs.