The world’s biggest company got caught in the middle of Trump’s AI war with

New York
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Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, has found itself caught in the middle of President Donald Trump’s historic trade war with China. The result: an extraordinary concession from a $4.5 trillion corporation that will give the United States a percentage of every high-end AI chip sold in China.

The deal, which AMD also signed for some of its chips, could split the difference between two competing Trump administration goals: maintain America’s AI dominance while securing a critical trade agreement with China. It could also give the White House billions of dollars to spend as it wishes.

Nvidia and AMD have agreed to pay the US government 15% of their revenues from semiconductor sales to China in exchange for licenses to export their technology there.

The White House in April blocked the export of certain AI chips to China, including Nvidia’s H20 chips and AMD’s MI308 chips. The deal with the Trump administration allows the companies to obtain export licenses to restart sales of those chips in China, a US official told CNN. The Financial Times first reported the story Sunday.

Nvidia previewed the deal last month, when it said it would resume sales of the H20 chip to China after the Trump administration expressed openness to allowing the export of certain AI chips again. But the 15% payment was a surprise. Trump said Nvidia was initially asked to pay a 20% cut, but they negotiated the rate down to 15%.

The deal came together after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, the official said. Although the export licenses were granted Friday, no shipments have yet been made.

“We follow rules the US government sets for our participation in worldwide markets,” a Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement. “While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide.”

AMD has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.

Governments, including the United States, have taken control of companies in the past when they were considered to be of strategic importance to national security. During the financial crisis in 2009, the United States took control of General Motors and Chrysler, and the proceeds of those stakes went directly into the US Treasury after the government sold them…