Nvidia, AMD to pay revenue from chip sales in China to the US government

Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the U.S. government 15% of revenue from sales to China of advanced computer chips like Nvidia's H20 that are used for artificial intelligence applications. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration halted sales of H20 chips to China in April, but now it is allowing the company to resume sales. The Commerce Department had also begun issuing licenses for the sale of H20 chips to China.

Shares of Nvidia and AMD fell 1.8% and 3.3% respectively in pre-market trade on Monday.

The deal to pay the U.S. government from sales in China is unusual for a president, and marks Trump's latest intervention in corporate decision-making.

When asked if Nvidia had agreed to pay 15% of revenues to the United States, an Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters, "We follow rules the U.S. 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,” the spokesperson added.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last month the planned resumption of sales of the AI chips was part of U.S. negotiations with China to get rare earths and described the H20 as Nvidia's "fourth-best chip" in an interview.