US chipmakers NVIDIA and AMD recently received permission to sell their H20 and MI308 AI chips to China, respectively, amid tightened export controls. According to the latest reports, companies will now allocate 15% of their revenue from sales of these advanced chips to the US government.
The agreement follows the Donald Trump administration’s decision in April to halt H20 chip sales to China. By early 2025, Chinese firms reported severe shortages, and NVIDIA had warned of a potential $5.5 billion hit to its bottom line. Notably, last month, the administration allowed both NVIDIA and AMD to resume sales after obtaining export licences.
NVIDIA had also announced the RTX PRO GPU, a China-specific chip engineered to comply with US regulations. The RTX PRO joins the H20 and other variants, designed to maintain NVIDIA’s presence in China while adhering to legal boundaries.
China is a key market for both companies. In a visit to Beijing in April, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said China was a critical market for NVIDIA and added, “We hope to continue to cooperate with China.”
Moreover, at the opening ceremony of the third China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing this year, Huang called Chinese AI models “world-class”. This included DeepSeek, the one model that was ‘banned’ on multiple US government devices like those of NASA and the Navy.
In the same ceremony, he asserted that he has excellent relations with “just about’ every government”. “Anyone who discounts Huawei and China’s manufacturing capability is deeply naive. This is a formidable company, and I’ve seen the technologies they’ve created in the past,” he added.
Moreover, US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said last month that the resumption of AI chip sales was part of negotiations with China to secure rare earths. He described the H20 as NVIDIA’s “fourth-best chip” and said it was in the US’ interests for Chinese firms to use American technology, even if the most advanced chips remained restricted.
