Click to see: Trump Lifts Global Ban on AI Chips
A Historical Review of Trump’s Chip Policy
During Trump’s presidency, he frequently took action in the chip policy arena, profoundly impacting the chip industry landscape in the United States and globally.
At the beginning of his term, Trump showed a high level of concern for the U.S. chip industry. In 2018, he signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, which restricted the use of Chinese technology products by the government and related contractors, marking the start of a series of actions in the chip sector. In the same year, the U.S. government also passed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, strengthening the scrutiny of foreign investment security, particularly increasing the review of mergers and acquisitions involving Chinese capital in high-tech fields such as artificial intelligence and chips. This measure aimed to control the chip industry from the source of investment and reduce the influence of external capital on the U.S. chip industry.
In 2020, Trump’s chip policy escalated further. That year, the U.S. government first identified Huawei and ZTE as posing a “national security threat” to the U.S., prohibiting the procurement of products from these two companies. Subsequently, it required U.S. operators with ZTE or Huawei equipment to “remove and replace” these devices, attempting to completely exclude Chinese companies from the U.S. market. In the same year, the U.S. passed the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act and published the Federal Communications Commission’s “Covered List,” prohibiting federal funds from being used to procure equipment from Huawei and ZTE, with China Telecom and China Mobile also listed. Moreover, in December 2020, Trump signed an executive order banning transactions through eight Chinese mobile applications, including Alipay and WeChat Pay. Although these measures seemed to target internet applications, they were also related to the chip industry, as the operation of these applications relies on chip technology support. By restricting these applications, it indirectly affected the market expansion of related chip products.
Entering 2023, chip policy once again became a focal point. The U.S. government notified American companies to prohibit the export of high-performance processors to China and decided to ban companies like NVIDIA from exporting advanced computing chips to China. However, NVIDIA subsequently developed three “special supply” version chips, namely HGX H20, L20 PCle, and L2 PCle, which were developed based on the banned A800 and H800, reducing some computing power just enough to bypass the “regulatory rules” set by the U.S. and continue exporting to China. The H20 series chips received high praise from domestic buyers. However, after Trump took office, there were reports that he was preparing to impose a broader ban on chip exports to China, which could also affect the H20 chips. Nevertheless, on April 9, 2025, the situation reversed, and the U.S. government decided to open approvals for chip exports to China. Reports indicated that after NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the Trump administration changed its plan to restrict NVIDIA from exporting H20 chips to China, a move that attracted widespread attention. Observers speculated that this could be a goodwill signal from the U.S. amid the U.S.-China tariff war, while others believed it was an attempt by the U.S. to use the opening of chip exports as a “bargaining chip” to encourage China to lift related tariffs.
By 2025, Trump’s adjustments to chip policy became even more frequent. On March 4, local time, Trump stated in a speech to Congress that he hoped to abolish the CHIPS and Science Act enacted during Biden’s administration. This act, signed by Biden in August 2022, aimed to help the U.S. regain its leading position in semiconductor manufacturing by providing substantial subsidies for U.S. semiconductor production and R&D, promoting the establishment of the chip manufacturing industry in the U.S. Trump argued that the act’s funding had not been effective and proposed replacing subsidies with high tariffs, believing that by setting high tariffs, chip companies would be forced to build chip factories in the U.S. for free. Additionally, reports indicated that the Trump administration planned to renegotiate the funding conditions of the CHIPS Act and hinted at delaying some upcoming subsidy disbursements. Global third-largest silicon wafer manufacturer GlobalWafers received notification that it was currently reviewing certain conditions in all direct funding agreements that did not comply with Trump’s executive orders and policies.
In April, there were continuous developments related to chip policy. On April 11, U.S. Customs and Border Protection released a new tariff schedule, exempting import duties on categories of goods including automatic data processors, computers, communication equipment, displays and modules, and semiconductors, shielding them from the impact of Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs.” However, just a day later, Trump stated on the social media platform “Truth Social” that there was no announcement of a tariff “exception” last Friday, and the products involved in the new tariff schedule were still subject to the existing 20% fentanyl tariff, merely shifting to a different “category.” In the upcoming national security tariff investigation, the U.S. would still focus on semiconductors and the entire electronic product supply chain, and it was stated that specific information regarding tariffs in the chip sector would be announced on April 14. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo also specifically mentioned on April 13 that the recent exemptions for electronic products and components were temporary and would appear in the semiconductor tariffs to be introduced in one or two months. This series of policy adjustments has left the market confused and uncertain about the direction of U.S. chip policy.
In May, the Trump administration took further action. Reports indicated that the Trump administration planned to lift the restrictions on artificial intelligence chips established during the Biden era, which were set to take effect on May 15. The export control policies introduced by the Biden administration categorized countries into three groups to regulate chip exports from companies like NVIDIA, facing opposition from tech companies and foreign governments. The Trump administration believed that the restrictions during the Biden era were overly complex and hindered U.S. innovation, proposing to replace them with simpler rules. However, during the formulation of new regulations, the U.S. Department of Commerce would continue to strictly enforce chip export restrictions.
Trump’s chip policy during his presidency addressed multiple aspects, covering trade, investment, subsidies, and more. The direction of the policy has been continuously adjusted, bringing sustained and complex impacts on the U.S. chip industry and the global chip market. The future trajectory of his chip policy remains full of uncertainties and will continue to attract global attention.