As part of their agreement with the Trump administration to secure licenses for AI GPU sales to China, NVIDIA and AMD have reportedly agreed to pay 15% of their sales revenue to the US government, reports The Financial Times. Both firms secured reprieve from the government in July after their licenses for chip sales entered processing, and a Reuters report on Friday revealed that NVIDIA had received the licenses. Both NVIDIA and AMD have experienced revenue drops from their China sales restrictions, with the FT reporting that the sales in question will cover NVIDIA's H20 GPUs and AMD's MI308 AI accelerators.
NVIDIA & AMD Enter Unique Revenue Sharing Agreement With US Government For China AI GPU Sales - Report
Reports on Friday which cited government sources to claim that the US had started to grant AI GPU export licenses to NVIDIA came after AMD's CEO shared in an interview that her firm is yet to receive any approvals. In its latest fiscal quarter report, AMD reported a significant operating income drop, which the firm attributed in part to its Chinese sales decline, and while NVIDIA has started receiving the license approvals, it's unclear whether AMD's applications have also moved forward.
Ahead of the H20 sales restrictions, NVIDIA had earned $4.6 billion through the chips in its first quarter, with China accounting for 12.5% of the firm's total sales at the time. The firm's shares rose in May after it revealed in its earnings report that the hit to its sales from the H20 restrictions was $1 billion less than expected.
The global demand for its products and rosy analyst estimates for AI's long-term demand have pushed NVIDIA's shares to record highs in 2025 and made it the world's most valuable company once again after the disastrous DeepSeek selloff in January.
Now, according to the Financial Times, NVIDIA and AMD have agreed to pay 15% of the revenue from their Chinese chip sales to the US government. The publication's sources are unclear on how the government will use the revenue, as it works to reduce the US trade deficit through tariffs levied on most of America's trading partners.
While AMD did not respond to the FT's request for comment, NVIDIA, while not confirming the development, noted that it follows the "rules the US government sets for our participation in worldwide markets." It is possible that the Trump administration will use the revenue percentage from the China AI GPU sales to offset the trade deficit or use it to stimulate American chip manufacturing further.
A 15% commission to the US government from NVIDIA could mean that the government generates more than $2 billion in revenue from Chinese chip sales in 2025. The AI GPUs have become a hot topic in the US-China trade discussions, with the Chinese eager to have the restrictions lifted.
Recent reports have also suggested Beijing's interest in procuring advanced high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are also subject to US restrictions due to the presence of American technology in their design and production. HBM chips are also key components of AI GPUs, implying that, should future chips not sanctioned for sales to China rely on the HBM memory, then they would be restricted by default without any new rules.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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