China wants the US to ease export controls on chips as part of a trade deal
Kyiv • UNN
China wants the US to ease export controls on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips as part of a trade deal. This is due to restrictions affecting the development of Chinese artificial intelligence chips.
China wants the United States to ease export controls on a critical component for artificial intelligence chips as part of a trade deal ahead of a possible summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
This is reported by UNN with reference to Financial Times.
Details
Chinese officials have told experts in Washington that Beijing wants the Trump administration to ease export restrictions on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, according to several people familiar with the matter.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has held three rounds of trade talks with China over the past three months. A source familiar with the situation said that the Chinese team, led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, raised the issue of HBM in some of these talks. The U.S. Treasury Department declined to comment.
Ahead of the August 12 deadline for the U.S. and China to reach a trade deal and avoid the re-imposition of high tariffs, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said this week that the Trump administration would likely extend the tariff pause for 90 days.
Beijing has been frustrated by U.S. export controls since President Joe Biden unveiled measures in 2022 aimed at hindering China's efforts to acquire or produce advanced artificial intelligence chips. In 2024, he banned the export of HBM to China to impede Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), a Chinese chipmaker.
Recent attention regarding export controls to China has focused on the H20 chip, designed by Nvidia for the Chinese market, after Biden banned the export of more advanced chips. The Financial Times reported that the U.S. approved export licenses for H20 on Friday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with Trump.
But people familiar with the matter said China is much more concerned about HBM controls because it severely limits the ability of Chinese companies, including Huawei, to develop their own artificial intelligence chips.
Chinese efforts have raised alarm in Washington over signs that Trump is willing to ease export controls to broker a summit meeting with Xi.
The FT reported last month that the Commerce Department had been ordered to freeze new export control measures on China. Some officials are increasingly concerned after Trump reversed his previous ban on H20 sales in July.
As concerns grow in Washington that Trump may ease export controls to secure a trade deal, Nvidia is again under fire for selling gaming chips in China, as some groups are pushing these chips for artificial intelligence applications.
Chinese companies are promoting two gaming chips — 4090D and 5090D — for use in artificial intelligence. Nvidia does not promote these chips for artificial intelligence. This development follows an FT report that smuggling allowed Chinese groups to obtain $1 billion worth of advanced Nvidia AI chips in the second quarter. At the time, Nvidia stated:
Trying to build data centers with smuggled products is a losing proposition both technically and economically.
Addition
Since August 2, the EU has had mandatory requirements for general artificial intelligence systems. Companies must publish training data and comply with copyright.