Chip export approvals stall
Approvals for Nvidia and AMD AI-chip exports to China are reportedly stalling because the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security has lost nearly 20% of its licensing staff, and Nvidia hasn’t sold any H200s to China despite prior approval. (tomshardware.com) The situation shows bureaucratic throughput can be a practical bottleneck for global compute supply. (tomshardware.com)
U.S. approvals for Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices artificial intelligence chip exports to China are slowing as the Commerce Department office that handles them loses staff. (finance.yahoo.com) Bloomberg reported on April 10 that the Bureau of Industry and Security shed 101 employees since 2024, a 19% drop, after taking on more tariff probes and chip-license reviews. The report said turnover among rulemaking and licensing staff was nearly 20%. (bloomberg.com) (finance.yahoo.com) The backlog is hitting cases the White House had already moved to permit. Yahoo Finance, citing Bloomberg, said Nvidia’s China-bound H200 applications, Advanced Micro Devices’ MI308 approvals, and licenses tied to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all run through the same bureau. (finance.yahoo.com) On January 13, 2026, the Bureau of Industry and Security changed its China policy from a blanket block to case-by-case review for Nvidia H200, Advanced Micro Devices MI325X, and similar chips. The rule requires applicants to show the exports will not reduce supply for U.S. customers and to submit the products for independent testing in the United States. (bis.gov) That means a policy opening did not create automatic shipments. Each sale still needs a license file, customer checks, and technical review before a chip can leave the country. (bis.gov) The delays are now long enough to disrupt business plans. Yahoo Finance said processing times reached 76 days in the first half of 2025, up from an average of 38 days in 2023. (finance.yahoo.com) Nvidia has not sold any H200 chips to China months after the White House cleared that path, according to the same report. Bloomberg said President Donald Trump’s push to expand overseas sales of U.S. artificial intelligence chips is being undercut by licensing bottlenecks inside the agency meant to approve them. (finance.yahoo.com) (bloomberg.com) The Bureau of Industry and Security is also handling politically sensitive work beyond China chips. Bloomberg said senior officials have been pulled into tariff investigations and, since late February, other national-security matters, leaving less time for the technology-export agenda. (bloomberg.com) (finance.yahoo.com) The result is that the choke point is no longer only the rulebook. It is also the number of people left to process the paperwork for some of the world’s most valuable chip sales. (finance.yahoo.com) (bloomberg.com)
