China AI Export Rules: AMD and Nvidia Get the Green Light, Smaller Rivals Stumble

Washington's new AI export rules are a high-stakes balancing act: AMD and Nvidia get a regulated backdoor into China, but smaller rivals are left fuming.

The U.S. Department of Commerce introduced new export rules allowing limited shipments of advanced AI accelerators to China and Macau, but only for products like AMD's MI325X and Nvidia's H200 with performance below specific thresholds (TPP <21,000, memory bandwidth <6,500 GB/s).

Export licenses require U.S. demand to be fully met first, with China-bound shipments capped at 50% of domestic sales and no diversion of advanced-node foundry capacity.

Compliance demands third-party U.S.-based labs to verify hardware specs, adding cost and complexity. Cloud usage controls mandate 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) procedures and restrictions on reexports to restricted jurisdictions (Group D:5 countries).

Smaller manufacturers face disadvantages due to compliance burdens and shipment caps, while AMD and Nvidia can leverage their existing U.S. market dominance to secure licenses.

The policy effectively limits China's access to cutting-edge U.S. AI hardware while preserving American companies' footholds in the Chinese market.