Politico: U.S. Export-Control Delays May Have Let China Obtain Thousands of High-End Chips in May 2025

According to Lianhe Zaobao citing Politico and The Information, U.S. China hawks say delays at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) may have allowed Beijing to obtain thousands of high-end U.S. chips in May 2025, as the Trump administration allegedly went months without updating the foreign-entity blacklist, export-license applications piled up, and the pace of new rulemaking fell to a 20-year low. Politico cited six former BIS officials and six people close to the White House as saying decision delays have stalled core BIS operations, with critics blaming BIS Director Jeffrey Kessler and Commerce Secretary Lutnick for weak leadership; BIS rejected the claims as “false statements” and said export licenses are no longer rubber-stamped, adding that the average processing time last year was 62 days, slower than prior administrations. Separately, The Information reported that China plans to allow leading domestic AI firms to buy limited quantities of Nvidia H200 chips, with officials telling Alibaba, ByteDance and DeepSeek they may be approved if they specify the number of chips and intended use; China’s embassy in Washington said Beijing opposes politicizing and weaponizing technology and trade issues. The report added that although Trump approved Nvidia sales of the H200 to China in December 2025, China has been slow to grant approvals, partly due to concerns about impacts on its domestic chip industry and cybersecurity risks.