U.S. export approvals stall
Approvals for Nvidia and AMD AI‑chip exports to China are slowing because the Commerce Department unit that vets licences is backlogged and has seen roughly 20% staff turnover. (startupnews.fyi) Reports describe the backlog as a bureaucratic choke point that can delay shipments and revenue, with one summary suggesting the slowdown could translate into about an $8 billion impact. (ecosistemastartup.com)
U.S. approvals for Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices artificial-intelligence chip exports to China are taking months as the Commerce Department’s export-control office falls behind. (ttnews.com) The bottleneck sits inside the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Commerce unit that reviews sensitive technology sales abroad. Bloomberg, cited by The Dallas Morning News and Transport Topics on April 10, reported nearly 20% turnover among rulemaking and licensing staff over the past year. (ttnews.com) The slowdown comes three months after the bureau changed course on January 13 and said it would review licenses for Nvidia H200, Advanced Micro Devices MI325X and similar chips for China on a case-by-case basis. The rule took effect immediately and added conditions on U.S. supply, Chinese customer compliance and third-party testing in the United States. (bis.gov) Those reviews now stretch for several months, according to the April 10 report, and the delays cover more than China. The same backlog has held up exports to U.S. allies and left billions of dollars of shipments waiting for approval. (ttnews.com) The export-license system is supposed to keep advanced chips and other sensitive goods from reaching buyers that could threaten U.S. national security. In fiscal year 2023, before the current crunch, the Bureau of Industry and Security processed 37,943 license applications in an average of 38 days. (bis.gov) That older baseline shows how far the process has slipped. Reuters reported in August 2025 that the bureau’s application pileup was already the longest in more than 30 years, with thousands of cases stuck in limbo. (usnews.com) For Nvidia, the delay lands after Washington reopened a narrow path back into China. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said on February 26 that the U.S. government had approved only small amounts of H200 products for China-based customers and that Nvidia had generated no revenue from them. (cnbc.com) Kress also said Nvidia did not know whether any imports would be allowed into China, showing that a U.S. license is only one step in the chain. China had once made up at least one-fifth of Nvidia’s data-center revenue, according to CNBC’s February 26 report. (cnbc.com) Commerce has not publicly announced a new fix for the staffing and review slowdown since the January 13 rule change. Until that changes, the policy on paper allows more sales, but the office that must sign them off remains the choke point. (bis.gov)
