The debate over whether AI chipmakers should be allowed to sell their products to China has taken an unusual turn. The US government has reportedly given NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) permission to make the sales but for one big catch: 15 percent of the sales. The news was first reported by The Financial Times, which cited multiple people familiar with the agreement.
In July, NVIDIA announced that the US government would approve export licenses to sell its H20 AI GPUs after blocking their sale in April. NVIDIA created these specific chips — which are less powerful than ones sold in the US — in response to restrictions on sales to China. It previously developed the A800 and H800 chips for the Chinese market, but those were also banned.
Now, NVIDIA and AMP were both reportedly granted export licenses for China last week, after agreeing to give the government 15 percent of their profits. AMP will provide the share from sales of its MI308 chip.
There’s significant debate over whether selling AI chips to China will endanger US national security. At the end of July, 20 national security experts and past government officials — including President Trump’s former deputy national security advisor, Matt Pottinger — wrote a letter to Howard Lutnick, the US Secretary of Commerce, stating as much.
The signatories “believe this move represents a strategic misstep that endangers the United States’ economic and military edge in artificial intelligence.” They worry it will restrict the number of chips available for the US and be used by China’s military, among other concerns. NVIDIA disagrees, claiming the export licenses will allow it to compete with Chinese businesses.
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