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Nvidia and AMD’s 15% China Chip Revenue Deal: What It Actually Covered

The 2025 revenue-share arrangement was narrower and less formally established than the headline suggests: it concerned licensed sales of specific AI accelerators, not all Nvidia or AMD sales in China.
From TheFinanceBase Team6 min to read
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Short answer: The headline refers to a real arrangement reported in August 2025, but it overstates the scope. The reported 15% or more revenue share concerned licensed sales of Nvidia H20 and AMD MI308 AI accelerators to China—not all chip revenue either company earns there. In later filings, both companies said U.S. officials had expressed an expectation of a share from licensed sales, while the government had not published a regulation codifying the requirement.

What did Nvidia and AMD agree to?

In August 2025, reports said the Trump administration would allow certain Nvidia and AMD AI-chip exports to China under licenses tied to a revenue-sharing expectation. President Donald Trump publicly confirmed that the United States would receive a share, saying he had initially sought 20%. News reports described the figure as 15%. The Associated Press reported Trump’s comments, while Reuters reporting reproduced by VnExpress described the arrangement and its export-license context.

The companies’ subsequent SEC filings provide a narrower, more qualified account: U.S. officials expected the government to receive 15% or more of revenue from licensed sales. Nvidia and AMD did not describe a publicly released contract with standardized terms. Their filings also said the U.S. government had not published a regulation establishing the requirement. Nvidia’s January 2026 filing and AMD’s 2025 filing set out those disclosures.

Which chips and sales were in scope?

Company Product What the disclosure covers
Nvidia H20 Licensed H20 sales to China; the filing also discusses other circuits meeting specified bandwidth characteristics. Nvidia SEC filing
AMD MI308 Licensed MI308 sales, rather than all AMD products or all China revenue. AMD SEC filing

H20 and MI308 are AI accelerators. The arrangement did not automatically apply to every GPU, CPU, networking product, semiconductor, customer, or transaction either company had in China. A U.S. export license is also not an unrestricted authorization: its terms may limit products, customers, quantities, destinations, and other conditions. The Congressional Research Service summarizes the export-control and licensing context for these chips in its report on U.S. semiconductor export controls.

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Is the 15% payment a tax?

It is more accurate to call it a reported revenue-sharing condition or fee associated with export-license access than a conventional tax. A general corporate tax is established by law and applies under defined rules; the company disclosures here describe an official expectation connected to particular licensed sales. They do not identify a published regulation that formally codified the 15% requirement.

The distinction matters. A 15% share of revenue is calculated against sales, not profit, so it could reduce the economics of a transaction even when a company’s margins are already pressured. Nvidia and AMD warned investors that a government demand for a percentage of revenue could raise costs, reduce competitiveness, and expose them to litigation. The public filings do not establish the full terms, the precise payment base, or that each reported dollar of licensed sales had already generated a remittance.

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Why would Washington allow the sales?

The policy combined competing aims. The United States had restricted advanced chip exports to China on national-security grounds, yet the administration later permitted certain sales under licenses. Allowing limited access could preserve U.S. companies’ commercial relationships and software ecosystems, while license conditions retained a government lever and a financial return. The arrangement also unfolded amid broader U.S.-China trade tensions.

That is a policy rationale, not evidence that the revenue share was enacted as a formal national-security mechanism. The tension is practical: restrictions can limit access to technology considered strategically sensitive, but repeated restrictions or special payment conditions may push Chinese customers toward domestic alternatives and weaken U.S. firms’ future market position. Nvidia has warned that export controls can encourage overseas customers to buy from competitors in its 2025 filing.

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What do the companies’ financial disclosures show?

Nvidia: a large restriction-related charge, then limited licensed revenue

Nvidia said the U.S. government informed it on April 9, 2025, that H20 exports to China and certain other destinations or customers required a license. The company reported a $4.5 billion charge related to H20 inventory and purchase obligations. It also reported $4.6 billion in H20 sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 before the new licensing requirement took effect; that earlier figure is not post-license revenue and should not be treated as the base for a 15% payment. Nvidia’s April 2025 filing describes the restriction and charge.

In a later filing, Nvidia reported approximately $60 million of H20 revenue under the relevant licenses. This illustrates the difference between permission to pursue licensed sales and a broad reopening of the market. The filing does not establish that a specific 15% remittance had already been made on every dollar of that revenue. Nvidia’s January 2026 filing contains the licensed-revenue disclosure.

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AMD: inventory charges and a partial reversal

AMD reported approximately $800 million in inventory and related charges connected to MI308 restrictions during 2025. After it began shipping MI308 products under licenses, it reversed approximately $360 million of those charges. These are accounting effects of the restrictions and later shipments, not a measure of money paid to the U.S. government. AMD also said sales remained dependent on customer demand, Chinese import rules, and U.S. licensing. AMD’s filing provides the details.

These figures do not support a reliable estimate of U.S. receipts. The payment base and accounting treatment are not fully established in the filings, and reported sales are not necessarily identical to amounts subject to payment.

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Why was the arrangement controversial?

  • Legal clarity: Company filings said no public regulation codified the revenue-share requirement, leaving questions about its formal basis and terms.
  • Export-control consistency: Tying a financial share to permission for restricted exports can blur the distinction between a national-security licensing decision and revenue collection.
  • Competitive effects: A charge on licensed revenue could make U.S. products less attractive relative to alternatives not subject to the same condition.
  • Customer behavior: Higher costs and unpredictable access may encourage Chinese customers to shift toward domestic chips, potentially reducing U.S. companies’ long-term influence.
  • Uncertain pass-through: A revenue-based cost might be reflected in prices or absorbed by a company, but the filings do not establish how any particular transaction was priced.

What happened after the 2025 H20 and MI308 licenses?

Later licensing did not produce unrestricted access to the Chinese market. Nvidia said it had received licenses for small amounts of H200 products for specific Chinese customers but had not yet generated revenue under that H200 program. It disclosed that H200 shipments would require U.S. inspection and could be subject to a 25% U.S. tariff upon importation. AMD said it had obtained some licenses for MI325 shipments to certain China-based customers, while warning that it did not know whether Chinese imports would be permitted. Both companies described sales as dependent on government decisions and market conditions. These updates appear in Nvidia’s January 2026 filing and AMD’s filing.

Chinese demand was another constraint. Contemporaneous reporting said Chinese authorities urged some local companies to avoid Nvidia H20 chips, particularly for government or national-security-related work. That reporting did not establish a universal import ban, and accounts were less clear about whether any notices named AMD’s MI308. The practical point is that U.S. approval alone could not guarantee a sale: Chinese procurement guidance, import rules, or customer reluctance could also block it.

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What investors and readers should take from the headline

  • The reported arrangement was real, but the headline’s phrase “China chip revenue” is too broad.
  • The disclosed expectation concerned 15% or more of licensed sales of specified AI chips, principally Nvidia H20 and AMD MI308.
  • The companies’ filings said the government had not published a regulation codifying the requirement; the full terms and actual remittances were not established publicly in those disclosures.
  • Licenses were product- and customer-specific, and both U.S. and Chinese decisions could still determine whether a shipment became a sale.

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