Nvidia and AMD to give 15% of China AI chip sales revenue to U.S.
Nvidia and AMD have reached an agreement to remit 15% of their revenue from sales of advanced artificial intelligence chips to China to the U.S. government, according to a U.S. official who spoke with Reuters on Sunday. This arrangement specifically involves high-end processors, including Nvidia’s H20 chip, which is widely used in AI applications.
The deal follows a series of policy changes regarding the export of such technology. In April, the Trump administration halted shipments of H20 chips to China due to export control concerns. However, last month Nvidia announced it had been informed that sales could resume, with deliveries expected to begin soon. Another U.S. official confirmed that the Commerce Department has started issuing licenses for these chip sales.
When asked about the revenue-sharing arrangement, a Nvidia spokesperson said, “We follow rules the U.S. government sets for our participation in worldwide markets.” The spokesperson added, “While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide.”
The Financial Times, which first reported the revenue-sharing deal, noted that the payment condition was tied to the issuance of export licenses for semiconductors, including AMD’s MI308 chips. The Trump administration has not yet announced how the funds collected from this agreement will be used.
AMD did not respond to requests for comment, and the U.S. Department of Commerce also declined immediate comment.
The reaction to the policy has been mixed. Geoff Gertz, senior fellow at the Center for New American Security in Washington, D.C., said, “It’s wild. Either selling H20 chips to China is a national security risk, in which case we shouldn’t be doing it to begin with, or it’s not a national security risk, in which case, why are we putting this extra penalty on the sale?”
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently told CNBC that the resumption of AI chip sales was linked to broader negotiations with China over rare earth mineral supplies. He described the H20 chip as Nvidia’s ‘fourth-best chip’ and explained that it is in the U.S.’ interest for Chinese companies to continue using American technology—even if the most advanced chips remain restricted—to keep them within the American ‘tech stack.’
A U.S. official confirmed the administration does not view sales of H20 and similar chips as a national security threat but did not specify when the revenue-sharing agreement will be implemented.
Alasdair Phillips-Robins, a former adviser at the Commerce Department under President Biden, criticised the move, suggesting it sends unclear signals on U.S. technology export policies. “If this reporting is accurate, it suggests the administration is trading away national security protections for revenue for the Treasury,” he said.
As global competition in AI technology intensifies, this agreement reflects Washington’s effort to maintain technological influence in China while securing direct economic benefits from controlled chip sales.
