“American National Security Principles Are Negotiable for the Right Fee” — Why NVIDIA and AMD Agreed to Pay the US Government 15% of China AI Chip Revenue

TAIPEI, TAIWAN - APRIL 16: The logo of NVIDIA, an American tech company which designs and supplies GPUs, APIs, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) software and hardware, in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 16, 2025. The United States President Donald Trump's administration has confirmed that tariffs on semiconductors and some other technology products will 'take place in the very near future'. With tariffs and export restrictions expected to be implemented by the American government, electronic products such as iPhone, smartphones, tablet, computer and other digital devices requiring advanced microchips, as well as such global supply chain are likely to be affected. (Photo by Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images).

There has been much talk recently about the sale of NVIDIA's specialized AI GPUs to China. The US government only recently rescinded the ban on NVIDIA selling H20 chips on July 14, 2025, roughly four months after slapping the regulation in place due to what it called national security concerns.

On Sunday, August 10, it was reported (via Financial Times) that both NVIDIA and AMD have agreed to pay the US government 15% of the revenue garnered from the sales of specific AI accelerators — the NVIDIA H20 and the AMD MI308 — to China.