Trump Ponders Over Nvidia’s China Chip Sales with a Revenue Sharing Agreement
President Donald Trump has hinted at the possibility of permitting Nvidia to market a less powerful version of its highly advanced Blackwell AI chip to China. This is on the condition that the company agrees to a significant reduction in performance and a revenue sharing agreement with the U.S. government.
In a press conference, Trump suggested that he might approve the export of Blackwell chips with their full capabilities reduced by “30% to 50%”. This comes in the wake of a recent agreement where Nvidia consented to pay the federal government 15% of the revenue from H20 chip sales to China in return for export licenses.
The potential deal marks a major shift in U.S.-China tech relations. Previously, Washington had blocked the export of advanced semiconductors to prevent China from gaining an upper hand in AI technology. Trump referred to the existing H20 chips as “obsolete” technology that China already has in various forms, while he described Blackwell as “super-duper advanced” – the most advanced AI processing technology in the world.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected to meet with Trump again to discuss possible terms for the export of Blackwell. This agreement could generate billions in government revenue while strategically ensuring that China remains reliant on American technology instead of developing its own alternatives. Industry analysts have noted that this “controlled dependency” strategy aims to maintain U.S. technological leadership while reaping economic benefits from the world’s largest market.
Source: CNBC