The American semiconductive semiconductive giants and Advanced Micro Devices agreed to pay the US government 15% of their income from the sale of fleas intended for artificial intelligence to China, a very unusual decision, reported by several media.
“We follow the rules established by the United States government for our participation in global markets,” said Nvidia on a written response to AFP on Monday, without mentioning these 15%.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang met US President Donald Trump at the White House last Wednesday and agreed to donate to the United States government, part of his income, a very unusual arrangement in the international technology trade, according to information initially published in the Financial Times, Bloomberg and the New York Times.
Californian society is at the heart of technological rivalry between Beijing and Washington. Access of Chinese companies to its advanced “H20” chips is a major issue in commercial discussions between the two powers.
“Although we have not shipped (chips) H20 in China for months, we hope that the export control rules will allow America to be competitive in China and around the world,” said Nvidia in its press release.
The world’s leading producer of semiconductors also considered that the United States could not afford to “repeat” its errors made in the field of 5G and “lose its leadership in terms of telecommunications”.
“Political” tribute
The American IA chip “can become the global standard if we are embarking on the race,” added Nvidia.
Last month, the company became the first to exceed $ 4,000 billion in market capitalization, showing how the markets are betting on artificial intelligence, revolutionizing the world economy.
In early July, Nvidia said he would resume sales of his H20 chips in China, after the American authorities have raised certain export restrictions to the Asian country.
The fact of paying 15% of the products of the sale in China is “in every respect of a political tax which does not say its name”, estimates Stephen Innes, analyst at SPI AM.
“NVIDIA and AMD agreed to give in to the US government 15% of the income from their flea sales in China in exchange for the Gold Entrance Ticket that are export licenses,” he added, also notes the MUTISM of the company AMD.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), based in Silicon Valley, has also agreed to pay, according to several media, 15% of its income in China sales of its Mi308 chips, whose export to this country was previously prohibited.
According to the New York Times, this agreement could bring more than $ 2 billion to the US government.
US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he planned to impose 100% customs duties on “fleas and semiconductors”, without specifying, for the moment, the date of entry into force of this new customs tax.