The Trump administration imposes on Nvidia and AMD to donate 15% of their income from sales of advanced fleas to China. This unprecedented measure, inherited from an agreement concluded under the Trump administration, now conditions the export of processors like the H20, used for artificial intelligence.
NVIDIA and AMD will have to pay 15% of their income from advanced china sales, such as the H20 used for AI, to the United States government, according to information from Financial Times Confirmed by two other sources since then. This measure that the Wall Street Journal Judge at the very least unusual, resulting from an agreement concluded with the Trump administration. It conditions the issuance of export licenses. In April, Washington suspended H20 sales before allowing them again last month. Nvidia hopes to quickly resume deliveries, while AMD did not comment.
A strategic tax at the heart of the USA-China technological war
China represents a key market for both companies: $ 17 billion for Nvidia (13% of its sales) and 6.2 billion for AMD (24% of turnover) on their last years. The Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lungick, had justified this re-authorization by the need to negotiate an agreement on rare earths and the need to maintain Chinese companies on American technologies, even limited. The most advanced fleas remain prohibited from export.
The decision divides. For Geoff Gertz, from the Center for New American Security, it lacks consistency: if the sale of H20 is a risk to national security, it should not take place. And if not, why impose a puncture? The ex-advisor Alasdair Phillips-Robins sees it as a barter between national security and revenue for the treasure.
The share of IA fleas in the business mix of the two groups is not known, but to give an order of magnitude, 15% of 23.2 billion dollars, the accumulation of annual AMD and Nvidia income in China, represent $ 3.5 billion.
