Export approvals stalling at BIS
Approvals for AI‑chip exports to China are slowing because the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security has lost almost a fifth of its licensing staff, forcing senior officials to personally sign off on many licences and creating a choke point for shipments. That administrative shortage is delaying exports from major vendors and adding a governance bottleneck separate from chip production constraints. (tomshardware.com)
U.S. approvals for advanced chip exports are slowing not only because of policy, but because the office that signs the licenses is short on people. (bloomberg.com) Bloomberg reported on April 10 that the Bureau of Industry and Security has lost dozens of experienced employees over the past year, amounting to nearly 20% turnover in its rulemaking and licensing ranks. The same report said reviews that once moved faster are now stretching into months. (bloomberg.com) That matters because the Bureau of Industry and Security is the Commerce Department office that decides whether sensitive U.S. goods can be shipped abroad under the Export Administration Regulations. Companies file those requests through the agency’s SNAP-R licensing system, and the bureau says its process covers exports, reexports, and in-country transfers of controlled items. (bis.gov, snapr.bis.gov) The staffing problem is colliding with a heavier workload in artificial intelligence chips bound for China. Bloomberg said tighter control by top officials now requires many individual licenses to be elevated for senior sign-off, creating a chokepoint for Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and other exporters. (bloomberg.com) The export fight has been moving target to moving target. On April 9, 2025, Nvidia disclosed that the U.S. government told it a license would be required for exports of its H20 chip to China, including Hong Kong and Macau, and to certain related parties. (sec.gov) Then on January 15, 2026, the Bureau of Industry and Security said it would review licenses for Nvidia H200, Advanced Micro Devices MI325X, and similar chips for China on a case-by-case basis rather than under a blanket presumption of denial. That shift opened the door to more applications just as the licensing office was losing staff. (bis.gov) The bureau was already handling a large licensing flow before this latest crunch. Reuters reported last year that in fiscal year 2023 the agency processed 37,943 export license applications and took an average of 38 days on each request, while one U.S. official described the current backlog as the longest in more than 30 years. (tech.yahoo.com, wionews.com) Industry groups say the delays are now showing up in lost business, not just slower paperwork. Export Compliance Daily reported April 14 that a Center for Strategic and International Studies survey found 54% of respondents lost business because of Bureau of Industry and Security licensing delays in 2025, and 42% said more than $10 million in exports had been delayed by pending reviews. (exportcompliancedaily.com) The Commerce Department’s problem, then, is not only where to draw the China line. It is whether the agency that draws it can still process the stack of licenses sitting on its desk. (bloomberg.com, bis.gov)
