The “spirit” is don’t help China develop AI / advance their military capabilities.
Expecting a US tech company to not behave as per the uber-capitalism that defines almost everything else about how the country is run is just weirdly, unexpectedly naive.
Nvidia and other businesses have been handed an olive branch but allowing them to sell things the US government considers inconsequential to China to make a few bucks. If Nvidia decides to abuse this privilege, the olive branch might just get taken back.
Private enterprises anticipating the political needs of a central government was a tenet of Mussolini’s economic fascism and has no place in American political discourse.