U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testifies during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies on fiscal year 2027 budget requests on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 22, 2026.
Saul Loeb AFP | getty images
Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., pressured Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to allow NVIDIAA letter first reported by CNBC said the H200 chips for artificial intelligence would be sold to China.
The letter comes after Coons questioned Lutnick at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing last week. Lutnick said it is his understanding that the US has not sold any H200s to Chinese companies.
“We haven’t sold them any chips yet,” Lutnick said in response to a question from Koons at the April 22 hearing.
Lutnick’s statement contradicted comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who told reporters in March that Nvidia had received approval from both the US and Chinese governments to sell H200 chips to China.
“Your statements before the committee appear to contradict Huang’s comments,” Coons said in the letter sent Thursday.
Coons, who is also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent his letter just weeks before President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Trump administration told Nvidia in 2025 that it will need a license to export chips to China and some other countries. At least one-fifth of Nvidia’s data center revenue previously came from sales in China.
Coons said he is “deeply concerned” about the export of H200 chips to China and that “allowing any company in China to purchase these products is a serious threat to our national security and economic leadership.”
In the letter, Coons also asked Lutnick to respond in the next week on how many H200 chips were licensed for export to China, how many have been shipped to China and how many more chips the Commerce Department plans to license.
A Commerce Department spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comment.