Nvidia and AMD pay the government 15% of China chip revenue for export licenses

In August 2025 the administration conditioned China export licenses for Nvidia's H20 and AMD's MI308 AI chips on the companies paying the US government 15% of their China revenue from those sales - an arrangement legal experts across outlets called 'unprecedented' and lacking a clear statutory basis. Trump described the bargain in transactional terms: 'I said, if I'm going to do that, I want you to pay us, as a country, something, because I'm giving you a release.' He first sought 20%, negotiated to 15%, and floated 30-50% for the more advanced Blackwell chip.

Analysts characterized the cut as an 'indirect tariff at source' or a 'tax for doing business in China' imposed by deal rather than law - selling policy permission (an export license) for a revenue share, without Congress. Treasury's Bessent had earlier called the Nvidia controls a 'negotiating chip,' underscoring that national-security export policy was being monetized.

It is the Cook Model (PAY-26) applied to export control: a national-security decision converted into a pay-for-permission arrangement, setting a precedent for selling licenses.

Documented

Contested legality (no clear statutory basis; 'unprecedented')

2025-08 (Huang-Trump meeting 2025-08-06; confirmed 2025-08-11)