Overview

• The Commerce Department granted export licenses for Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 this week under a novel deal requiring a 15% share of China sales to the U.S. Treasury.
• China’s Cyberspace Administration convened Nvidia representatives and ordered state-affiliated firms to suspend H20 purchases pending a security review.
• Regulators have cited concerns over potential backdoors—such as location tracking and a remote “kill switch”—in the chips as the focus of their probe.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated the revenue-sharing export model could be expanded to other industries as part of a new industrial-security strategy.
• Nvidia and AMD reject the security allegations and emphasize the chips lack military-grade performance, while analysts forecast a share-price uplift despite ongoing legal and geopolitical risks.