Washington, D.C. – A previously undisclosed agreement between teh Trump administration and China involved a 15% commission paid to an unnamed Chinese entity in exchange for facilitating licenses allowing U.S. chipmakers NVIDIA and AMD to export advanced semiconductors – the H20 and MI308 respectively – to China,according to reports from the Financial Times and corroborated by The New York Times and Reuters.
Sources familiar with the arrangement indicate the Trump administration had not finalized plans for the use of these funds as of late July 2024. The agreement reportedly predates potential summit discussions between then-president Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The commission structure, impacting sales of high-value chips, raises questions about potential conflicts of interest and the influence of commercial considerations on U.S. national security policy. the details emerged as the August 12th deadline for the existing U.S.-China trade truce approached.
Beyond the commission, china reportedly sought concessions from the U.S.regarding export controls on High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, a critical component in the growth of advanced artificial intelligence systems. These requests were presented to Washington-based experts by Chinese officials.
HBM chips are currently manufactured by companies like SK Hynix (South Korea), Samsung (South Korea), and Micron Technology (United States). Restricting access to these components considerably hinders China’s ability to develop and deploy cutting-edge AI technologies.
Negotiations regarding an extension of the trade truce, initially established in 2019, took place in Stockholm, Sweden on July 28-29, 2024, with the final decision resting with then-President Trump.The original truce halted the implementation of further tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods traded between the two nations. The potential expiration of the truce could reignite trade tensions and further disrupt global supply chains.
