Nvidia, a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) chips, stated regarding the U.S. government's enhanced semiconductor export controls on China, "We fully comply with government regulations."
According to U.S. economic media CNBC, Nvidia issued a statement saying, "The U.S. government provides guidelines on what corporations can sell and where," adding, "We are strictly following those regulations."
This statement came as the U.S. government has intensified pressure by limiting the export of Nvidia's H20 chips to China and the House of Representatives has launched an investigation into Nvidia's AI chip sales.
The New York Times (NYT) reported that the House Select Committee on U.S.-China Strategic Competition has begun an investigation into Nvidia's chip sales in the Asia region. It is also reported that it is evaluating whether Nvidia intentionally provided AI chips to DeepSeek in violation of regulations.
Nvidia emphasized that it contributes to the U.S. economy and security. Nvidia said, "We are creating jobs and infrastructure in the United States, promoting U.S. technological leadership, and contributing billions of dollars of tax revenue to the U.S. government," adding, "We are protecting and strengthening national security by alleviating massive trade deficits."
Regarding the House committee's criticism that there have been loopholes in H20 chip sales over the past year, Nvidia dismissed it, saying, "We sell products to reliable corporations around the world as part of the technology industry," adding, "If the government had opposed the sales, there would have been guidelines," and clarified that there were no such guidelines until now.
Whether the restricted chips flowed into China via Singapore is also included in the investigation. Singapore is Nvidia's second-largest market, generating about $24 billion (approximately 34 trillion won) in sales during the last fiscal year.
Nvidia clarified, "The sales in Singapore refer to transactions where the billing address is in Singapore, which usually involves overseas subsidiaries of U.S. corporations," and added, "Those products are shipped to other regions such as the United States and Taiwan, not China."
Meanwhile, Reuters reported, citing sources, that Nvidia did not provide advance warning to some major customers regarding the U.S. government's export regulations on H20 chips. Major cloud corporations in China were expecting to receive H20 chips by the end of this year and were completely unaware of these regulatory changes, sources said. Nvidia's sales team in China also did not know this information until the official announcement. Nvidia had secured orders for H20 chips worth $18 billion (approximately 25 trillion won) from Chinese companies such as Tencent and Alibaba since early this year.