US bans Nvidia chip exports to China

In an escalation of the tech war between China and the US, Washington has banned chip giant Nvidia from selling its H20 chips to China for the "indefinite future," according to a filing by Nvidia on Tuesday.

Nvidia said that it expects to write down charges of up to $5.5 billion in its fiscal first quarter, due to US export requirements now imposed on its H20 chips for the Chinese market.

The US administration informed Nvidia on April 9 that it would require a license for export to China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and D:5 countries, or to companies headquartered or with an ultimate parent therein, of the Company's H20 integrated circuits and any other circuits achieving the H20's memory bandwidth, interconnect bandwidth, or combination thereof.

"The USG indicated that the license requirement addresses the risk that the covered products may be used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China," it said.

On Monday, the US government informed the Nvidia that the license requirement will be in effect for the indefinite future.

Nvidia's shares fell by 6.3% in after-hours trading following the news.

The additional limitations show that Trump will continue to support Washington's efforts to curb China's aspirations in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

Along with the new tariffs on China, which the White House said may go up to 245% on late Tuesday, the US seeks to restrict China's ability to produce and acquire advanced chips and semiconductors.