The Art of the StealA project of the Save America Movement
Donate

★ Government Action

Trump deal makes Nvidia, AMD pay 15% of China chip revenue to U.S.

Corporate FavorsTech Export Controls

Filed August 2025

★ The Brief

What happened

The export licenses cover Nvidia's H20 and AMD's MI308 AI chips for China sale; both companies will remit 15% of revenue from those sales to the U.S. government, a fee structure described as highly unusual for export licenses.

Who enabled it

Who benefits

Deal or steal?

Trump publicly said he personally set the rate with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, starting at 20% and dropping to 15% at Huang's request. Export licenses typically carry no fees; CBS News described the arrangement as highly unusual.

The Trump administration granted export licenses to Nvidia and AMD allowing them to sell AI chips — Nvidia's H20 and AMD's MI308 — in China, on the condition that both companies pay the U.S. government 15% of revenue generated from those China sales. President Trump publicly described personally negotiating the rate with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, stating he initially sought 20% before agreeing to 15% at Huang's request. The arrangement was confirmed in broad strokes by a U.S. official to CBS News. The licenses were provided in the week prior to the August 11 report. Export licenses typically carry no fees; this revenue-sharing structure is described as highly unusual.

Actors

Who pushed it · 2

Who initiated, paid, or pushed the action.

  • Donald Trump
    Donald Trump

    Personally negotiated the terms of the export license agreement with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, setting the revenue-sharing rate at 15% of China sales after starting at a requested 20%, and directed that licenses be granted to both Nvidia and AMD under these conditions.

  • Jensen Huang
    Jensen Huang

    Met with President Trump to negotiate export license terms; successfully pushed the revenue-sharing rate down from Trump's initial ask of 20% to 15%, enabling Nvidia to re-enter the China AI chip market.

Beneficiaries

Who gained · 2

Who stood to gain.

  • AMD
    AMD

    Received U.S. export licenses to sell its MI308 AI chips to China under the same 15% revenue-sharing condition, though AMD was not mentioned by Trump in his public remarks about the deal.

  • Nvidia
    Nvidia

    Received U.S. export licenses to resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China in exchange for agreeing to pay the federal government 15% of revenue from those China sales.

    Nvidia has paid into Trump’s orbit:

Sources

Further reading