Chip‑export approvals slowing
Approvals for Nvidia and AMD AI‑chip exports to China are reportedly stalling because staffing shortages at the Bureau of Industry and Security have lengthened review times into months. The backlog is affecting supply‑chain timing for firms that rely on U.S. export licences for high‑end compute. (startupnews.fyi, investing.com)
U.S. approvals for Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices artificial-intelligence chip exports to China are slowing from weeks to months inside the Commerce Department’s licensing office. (finance.yahoo.com) The office is the Bureau of Industry and Security, which reviews export licenses for advanced chips before they can ship to China, Hong Kong, Macau, and other restricted destinations under U.S. rules. Nvidia disclosed on April 9, 2025 that its H20 chips would require licenses, and Advanced Micro Devices said on April 15, 2025 that the same requirement applied to its MI308 products. (sec.gov, sec.gov) Bloomberg reported this week that staffing in the Bureau of Industry and Security unit handling these cases has fallen sharply over the past year, leaving approvals stuck for months. Reuters reported on August 1, 2025 that thousands of export applications across industries were already in limbo as staff departures and internal disruption slowed the bureau’s work. (finance.yahoo.com, usnews.com) These licenses matter because the chips at issue are the highest-performance processors U.S. companies were still trying to sell legally into China after earlier export controls tightened. Nvidia said the H20 rule was meant to address the risk that the chip could be used in or diverted to a supercomputer in China. (sec.gov, techcrunch.com) The slowdown lands after Washington changed the rules from an outright presumption of denial to case-by-case review for some advanced-computing chip exports. A January 15, 2026 final rule described that shift for certain Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices semiconductors headed to China and Macau, while adding certification and due-diligence requirements. (finnegan.com, bis.gov) That means the bottleneck is no longer only about whether a shipment is allowed on paper. It is also about whether the government office that stamps the paperwork has enough people to review technical filings, check end users, and coordinate with other agencies under the Export Administration Regulations. (ecfr.gov, law.cornell.edu) The companies have already warned investors that the licensing regime carries real financial costs. Nvidia said in April 2025 that it expected about $5.5 billion in charges tied to the new H20 restrictions, and Advanced Micro Devices said the MI308 controls could lead to charges of up to about $800 million. (sec.gov, cnbc.com) The Bureau of Industry and Security has not publicly posted a new annual report beyond fiscal 2023 on its main annual-reports page, even as its workload has widened to cover advanced chips, cloud-computing controls, and other national-security reviews. The bureau’s public site says it is responsible for export controls, treaty compliance, and technology leadership. (bis.gov, bis.gov) For Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and their customers, the immediate question is less about the text of the rule than the calendar. A license that arrives months late can miss a production window just as effectively as a denial. (finance.yahoo.com, usnews.com)
