China banned RTX 5090D V2 while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was visiting

Key points

• Beijing banned an Nvidia gaming chip while the company’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, was visiting China with Donald Trump last week, the latest salvo in the superpowers’ battle to dominate AI.
• The chip was added to a list of banned goods at China’s customs checkpoints last Friday, according to a copy of the document seen by the FT and two people with knowledge of the matter.
• The move highlights Beijing’s determination to keep out Nvidia’s chips, especially the degraded versions made to comply with US export controls.
• The Chinese government wants to support domestic chipmakers such as Huawei and Cambricon as they catch up to their US rivals.
• The Nvidia chip, known as the RTX 5090D V2, was introduced last August to comply with US export controls.