December 23, 2025 | The National Interest
Washington’s Willingness to Sell New Chips Shows China’s Growing Strength
Washington’s shift in its chip export controls shows how fear of trade disruption is reshaping US strategy—while Beijing gains strategic leverage without wanting the technology.
December 23, 2025 | The National Interest
Washington’s Willingness to Sell New Chips Shows China’s Growing Strength
Washington’s shift in its chip export controls shows how fear of trade disruption is reshaping US strategy—while Beijing gains strategic leverage without wanting the technology.
Excerpt
A new deal by the Trump administration gives China access to computer chips that form the bedrock of artificial intelligence (AI) while getting little in return—and China doesn’t even want them.
While the processors involved, including Nvidia’s H200, would allow Chinese firms an upgrade over domestic alternatives, the deal will likely not have a fundamental impact on China’s computing power, or on its interest in competing with the United States over the future of AI.
Rather, the decision marks the undisputed emergence of China as a peer to the United States—capable of softly exerting pressure without starkly exercising power, while Washington seems to be abandoning its winning hand out of a growing fear of being forced to fold in a dispute over tenuous trade ties.
The Rise and Retreat of America’s AI Chokepoint Strategy
As first introduced, American export controls on AI chips—as with other dual-use technologies—were designed to control a key chokepoint technology to hinder an adversary whose intentions to challenge Washington remain clear.
Jack Burnham is a senior research analyst in the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Follow Jack on X @JackBurnham802. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.