US Imposes 15% Revenue Cut on Nvidia AI Chip Sales to China

President Donald Trump has confirmed an unusual agreement where Nvidia and AMD will pay the US government 15% of their revenues from sales of certain artificial intelligence chips to China. This deal follows the Trump administration's halt of advanced AI chip sales to China, with a subsequent partial resumption allowing Nvidia's H20 chip and AMD's MI308 chip sales under this financial arrangement. Trump described the H20 chip as "obsolete" but agreed to lift restrictions in exchange for the revenue share, initially seeking 20% but settling at 15% after negotiations with Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang. The agreement effectively makes the US government a partner in Nvidia's China business, which could generate over $2 billion in revenue for the US. The Commerce Department began granting export licenses shortly after the deal was confirmed, marking a rare instance of export licenses being tied to revenue sharing. This interventionist policy underscores the Trump administration's strategic control over technology exports to China amid national security concerns.