TMTPOST -- U.S.   President Donald Trump suggested   he previously required Nvidia Corporation   to make more   concessions   than the recently reported when   the artificial intelligence ( AI ) chip giant   were seeking   export licenses for   China-tailored   chips.

Credit：China Central Television

Trump on Monday confirmed reports   that Nvidia   will be allowed   to sell certain AI chips to China, in exchange   for   giving   the U.S. government   15% of the revenue they   get   from   the   sales. He said he originally asked   Nvidia for   a 20%   cut of its chip sales   to China, but lowered   the share of revenue   to 15% after its CEO Jensen Huang negotiated with   him.  

Trump on Monday called Nvidia ’ s   H20   an "old chip that China already has" and   "obsolete." "So I said, ‘ listen, I want 20% if I ’ m going to approve this for you, for the country, ’ " Trump said at a news conference in Washington,referring   to his   meeting   talk   with Huang.   H20   is   the microprocessor that Nvidia   had specially tailored to the Chinese market to comply with the Biden-era AI chip export controls.

Trump   said   he   wouldn ’ t allow   Blackwell, Nvdia ’ s   latest   advanced   AI chip,   to be sold   to China without   significant downgrade, such as a   30% or 50% cut in   performance.   And   he indicated he could allow the company to sell the scaled-down Blackwell.

  "Jensen also has the new chip, the Blackwell. A somewhat enhanced-in-a-negative-way Blackwell. In other words, take 30% to 50% off of it,"   said Trump.   "I think he ’ s coming to see me again about that, but that will be an unenhanced version of the big one," he added.  

Huang   during his trip to China   last month unveiled his company had   obtained approval from the Trump administration   to resume sales of   its H20   chips to China.   The U.S. Commerce Department   was reported to have   started issuing licenses for the sale of H20 chips to China   on   Friday, two days after Huang met Trump.   Washington does not feel the sale of H20 and equivalent chips compromises national security, Reuters   cited a U.S.   official on Sunday.

Trump made the remarks   after   Nvidia   and   its competitor Advanced Micro Devices Inc.   ( AMD )   were reportedly   to   agree   to pay part of their   revenue   from   China to   the U.S. government   as part   of a deal the   Trump administration to secure export   licenses.  

The Financial Times ( FT )   on   Sunday   cited a U.S. official   as saying that   Nvidia   would share   15% of   the revenue from sales of its H20 chips   in China and AMD   will share the same share from MI308 revenues. Bloomberg later echoed   the report, noting the   agreement   Nvidia and AMD   struck   with the U.S. government were   unusual if not unprecedented arrangement that stands to unnerve US companies and Beijing alike.

Nvidia responded to   these reports,   saying that"We follow rules the US government sets for our participation in worldwide markets."   "While we haven't shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide,"   it   added.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian dodged the query for comments on the reported deal between the Trump   administration and Nvidia or   AMD.   China has made its position clear more than once on the U.S. export of chips to China,   said Lin   at   a   press   conference on Monday.  

Some former government officials and trade lawyers say the arrangement that   gives   a   slice of companies ’   revenue   from chip sales in   China    isn ’ t just unprecedented but may be illegal.

"We ’ re far beyond uncharted waters. We ’ re in an uncharted universe," said Doug Jacobson, an international trade attorney for Jacobson Burton Kelley, who said he and his colleagues were "aghast" at the arrangement.   The State Department can charge fees for export licenses related to defense technology, but those fees aren ’ t based on revenue earned, Jacobson said.

"No fee may be charged with consideration of any application for a license. This could run afoul of that," said Aiysha Hussain, a partner at law firm Mayer Brown who served as a senior advisor at the BIS between 2021 and 2024.

"This seeming quid pro quo is unprecedented from an export control perspective. The arrangement risks invalidating the national security rationale for U.S. export controls," said Jacob Feldgoise, a researcher at the DC-based Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

While both Nvidia and AMD already said they would start shipping to China, the big question is exactly when they ’ re going to start delivering to China again, especially now that there are strings attached, commented   Jay Goldberg, an analyst at Seaport Global Securities.