Chip exports to China hit administrative bottleneck
Approvals for Nvidia and AMD AI‑chip exports to China are slowing because U.S. export control offices face staff turnover and processing delays, leaving shipments like Nvidia's H200 and AMD's MI308 unable to move despite permission in principle. That administrative friction sits alongside strong chip demand and record first‑quarter revenue from TSMC, even as commentators warn energy and war‑related risks could affect supply chains. (startupnews.fyi) (xataka.com) (tradingkey.com) (heygotrade.com)
U.S. approvals for Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices artificial-intelligence chip exports to China are piling up inside the Commerce Department, delaying shipments that companies had expected to move. (finance.yahoo.com) The bottleneck sits at the Bureau of Industry and Security, the office that reviews sensitive exports. Bloomberg reported the bureau has lost 101 employees since 2024, a 19% headcount drop, and average license turnaround times rose to 76 days in the first half of 2025 from 38 days in 2023. (finance.yahoo.com) (bis.gov) The delays are hitting Nvidia’s H200 shipments to China and Advanced Micro Devices’ MI308 approvals, even after the Trump administration shifted the rules in January to allow case-by-case review instead of a blanket presumption of denial. The Bureau of Industry and Security said on January 13 that H200, MI325X and similar chips could be reviewed if applicants met security conditions. (finance.yahoo.com) (bis.gov) Those chips matter because they are the processors used to train and run large artificial-intelligence systems in data centers. China has been a major market for Nvidia, and the company’s chief executive Jensen Huang said on March 17 that Nvidia had been licensed for “many customers in China” and was restarting H200 manufacturing for that market. (finance.yahoo.com) (bloomberg.com) The slowdown is landing at the same time demand for advanced chips remains strong across the industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of NT$1.13 trillion, or about $35.6 billion, up 35% from a year earlier and above analyst estimates, with March revenue alone up 45.2%. (cnbc.com) (investor.tsmc.com) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is central to this story because it makes many of the world’s most advanced chips for customers including Nvidia. Its investor site says the company will release full first-quarter 2026 earnings on April 16, after posting guidance for revenue of $34.6 billion to $35.8 billion. (cnbc.com) (investor.tsmc.com) The Bureau of Industry and Security’s workload has also grown beyond chip cases. Bloomberg reported that tariff probes and broader artificial-intelligence export reviews have added to the queue, while Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler has personally examined nearly every license application, according to people familiar with the process. (finance.yahoo.com) The agency’s last published annual report shows how large that queue can get even before the recent staffing losses. In fiscal 2023, the Bureau of Industry and Security processed 37,943 license applications, approved 32,365 of them, returned 4,998 without action, and denied 580. (bis.gov) Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices are not the only companies affected by tighter review of artificial-intelligence hardware, but their China-bound shipments have become a test of whether Washington can enforce export controls and still process the trade it has chosen to permit. For now, the rulebook changed in January, but the paperwork is still holding up the chips. (bis.gov) (finance.yahoo.com)
