Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) shares closed higher Thursday, shrugging off intensifying political pressure over its China business as investors bet that robust AI demand will outweigh Washington's export anxiety.
Here's the regulatory tension that's building: A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced the Secure and Feasible Exports Chips Act, which would force the Commerce Department to deny export licenses for Nvidia's high-end H200 and next-generation Blackwell processors for 30 months, according to the Financial Times. That would effectively bar the company from selling its most advanced chips to Chinese customers during that period.
The timing matters because the White House is currently debating whether to allow Nvidia to ship the H200 to China at all. Some officials worry that giving Beijing access to those chips would significantly boost China's AI capabilities, the FT reported.
Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) framed the issue as existential, arguing that America's artificial intelligence leadership depends on controlling access to cutting-edge compute power. He called locking China out of Nvidia's most advanced chips "essential," according to the Financial Times.
Democrat Chris Coons struck a similar note, warning that the AI race will shape the rest of the century and determine whether these systems reflect U.S. market values or those of the Chinese Communist Party.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang isn't backing down quietly. He met with President Donald Trump and Republican senators this week to push back on the restrictions, telling lawmakers that Beijing simply won't accept deeply "degraded" products and that U.S. companies should be allowed to sell their most competitive chips, the FT reported. The company has also pushed back against the national security framing, saying that AI should be widely available and "is not an atomic bomb," according to the FT.
Huang has also criticized state-by-state AI regulations and warned that sweeping U.S. export curbs have already devastated the company's China presence. Nvidia's data-center market share in China has collapsed from about 95% to effectively zero under existing restrictions.
Meanwhile, the company has been managing other headline issues. Nvidia clarified that a widely discussed potential $100 billion direct supply deal with OpenAI remains only at the letter-of-intent stage. The chipmaker has also downplayed competitive threats from Google's in-house TPUs.
The bearish regulatory headlines haven't dented investor enthusiasm, largely because Nvidia's core business remains extraordinarily strong. Last month, the company reported record third-quarter revenue of $57 billion, driven by surging demand for its Blackwell data-center chips, and guided to another strong quarter ahead. That performance has reinforced bullish sentiment around the stock.
Market data shows Nvidia with exceptionally strong Growth (97.26) and Quality (92.77) scores, reflecting its dominant position in AI infrastructure.
Price Action: Nvidia shares closed up 2.15% during regular trading Thursday and gained another 0.09% in after-hours trading, last trading at $183.61.
