US Demands 15% Cut From Nvidia and AMD AI Chip Sales to China – A Tech Review Rant
Hello everyone. Strap yourself in, because the absurdity meter has just exploded. We’ve got a story here that manages to combine tech policy, corporate capitulation, and political theater into one glorious dumpster fire. Apparently, the US government – or more precisely, President Donald “Art of the Deal” Trump – has decided that if Nvidia and AMD want to sell AI chips to China, Uncle Sam gets a 15% slice of that pie. Yes, you heard it right. AI hardware diplomacy is now a mob-style protection racket.
A “Negotiation” That Sounds Like a Side Quest in a Bad RPG
Here’s how it went down: Trump originally wanted 20% (because why not go big?), but Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, managed to haggle it down to 15%. Can’t you just imagine the XP popping up over Huang’s head for a successful persuasion check? The Commerce Department then grants the golden ticket – a license to ship AI chips to China, but only the nerfed, stripped-down varieties like Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308.
These “compliant” models are like taking a legendary sword and grinding it into a butter knife, then cheerfully handing it to someone and saying, “There you go, no dangerous edges.” H20 even got side-eyed by China for “possible military use” which, given the pace of GPU innovation, feels like accusing someone’s old GTX 580 of destabilizing global security.
Political Economics or an Open-World Shakedown?
And here’s the kicker: The deal could net the US roughly $2 billion a year. The New York Times calls it “highly unusual.” I call it “an open-world shakedown mission with bonus objectives.” The administration’s moves reek of that classic MMO grind for gold – but instead of farming goblins, you’re squeezing GPU manufacturers for loot drops in the form of real money.
This is not an isolated move either – Trump has mused about breaking up Nvidia entirely, playing with sanctions like they’re loot crates, and even trying to get government ownership stakes in apps and companies under the guise of “national security.” For a moment there, I thought I’d accidentally tuned into a dystopian cyberpunk episode where the government is literally an in-game faction you have to pay to avoid raid aggression.
The Hardware Meta Gets Political
If this were a gaming meta, we’re looking at a forced rebalance patch. US companies get to sell mid-tier nerfed products to China, pay protection money to the federal treasury, and hope the master loot distribution system doesn’t randomly decide their epic sales potential gets dismantled by future executive orders.
What’s even more entertaining (or tragic, depending on your worldview) is the suggestion that Nvidia could sell its more powerful Blackwell chip to China… if performance is slashed by 30–50%. That’s the digital equivalent of giving someone a sports car but welding the gearbox in first gear. Sure, it’ll move, but enjoy getting smoked by a bicycle.
The Doctor’s Diagnosis
As an observer of tech policy shenanigans – and pretending for a moment I’m wearing my stethoscope instead of my headset – I’d diagnose this as an acute case of “transactional nationalism with corporate compliance syndrome.” Symptoms include government-imposed revenue sharing, technological handicapping, and high levels of political grandstanding. Prognosis? Chronic. Expect flare-ups every fiscal quarter.
Conclusion: The Good, The Bad, and The Ridiculous
- The Good: US companies can resume shipping hardware, even if it’s been given the nerf bat treatment.
- The Bad: Regulatory precedent here is as slippery as an ice level without guardrails.
- The Ridiculous: Negotiating chip export policy like you’re haggling over a rare skin in a flea market.
Overall impression? Bad. The whole thing stinks of opportunistic politics dressed up as national security, with tech companies playing along because, well, what choice do they have when the raid boss holds all the loot keys?
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is entirely my opinion.
Article source: US demands cut of Nvidia sales in order to ship AI chips to China, https://www.theverge.com/news/757428/donald-trump-nvidia-amd-ai-chip-sales-china
