# Revision to License Review Policy for Advanced Computing Commodities (H200-class chips to China)

- **Jurisdiction:** United States (federal) (US)
- **Type:** Regulation · **Status:** In force · **Binding:** yes
- **Issued by:** Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Department of Commerce
- **Proposed:** — · **Adopted:** 15 Jan 2026 · **Effective:** 15 Jan 2026
- **Obligations:** Registration or filing, Security testing
- **Sectors:** Defence, Critical infrastructure
- **Penalties:** Export Administration Regulations penalties (civil and criminal)

## Summary
Changes BIS licence review for exports to China and Macau of Nvidia H200-class and less advanced AI chips from a presumption of denial to case-by-case review, if the exporter certifies sufficient US supply, no diversion of foundry capacity, adequate recipient security, and independent US third-party performance testing. More advanced chips remain under the existing controls.

## Why it matters
Chip exporters can now seek licences for H200-class sales to China, but only with detailed certifications; export of frontier-class compute to China remains restricted.

## Source
[Federal Register](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/15/2026-00789/revision-to-license-review-policy-for-advanced-computing-commodities) · [secondary](https://www.bis.gov/press-release/department-commerce-rescinds-biden-era-artificial-intelligence-diffusion-rule-strengthens-chip-related)
Checked against the source on 4 Oct 2026. Wider context: on 13 May 2025 BIS announced rescission and non-enforcement of the January 2025 AI Diffusion Rule (including its global compute tiers and controls on closed model weights) and promised a replacement rule; no replacement rule had been published in the Federal Register as of 2026-10-04. A 14 Jul 2026 rule (effective 10 Jul 2026) moved the UAE to Country Group A:5, giving the UAE government and approved entities licence-free access to advanced computing items.

## Cite
Revision to License Review Policy for Advanced Computing Commodities (H200-class chips to China). Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Department of Commerce. Status: In force. wheresthe.ai, https://wheresthe.ai/rule/us-bis-advanced-computing-license-policy-2026/ (verified 4 Oct 2026).

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Canonical page: https://wheresthe.ai/rule/us-bis-advanced-computing-license-policy-2026/ · Not legal advice.