Export approvals stall at BIS
Approvals for Nvidia and AMD AI chip exports to China are stalling because the Bureau of Industry and Security has lost nearly a fifth of its licensing staff, reportedly forcing the Under Secretary to sign off on most licenses. The staffing squeeze is creating administrative bottlenecks in chip export workflows rather than a pure market shortage. (tomshardware.com)
The office that approves sensitive United States tech exports has become a bottleneck, slowing Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices shipments of artificial intelligence chips to China for months. (finance.yahoo.com) The Bureau of Industry and Security, a Commerce Department agency that reviews “dual-use” goods with civilian and military uses, has shed 101 employees since 2024, a 19% drop, according to Bloomberg reporting cited by Tom’s Hardware and Yahoo Finance. (finance.yahoo.com) Turnover in the bureau’s rulemaking and licensing teams has run at nearly 20%, and average license processing time rose to 76 days in the first half of 2025 from 38 days in 2023. (finance.yahoo.com) The Bureau of Industry and Security handles export licenses for advanced chips after reviews by the Defense, Energy, and State departments, so fewer licensing staff can slow legal shipments even when policy allows them. (gao.gov) That matters because Washington spent much of 2025 reopening a path for some artificial intelligence chip sales to China. Nvidia said on July 14, 2025 that it would resume H20 chip sales to China and expected licenses soon. (reuters.screenocean.com) Advanced Micro Devices said in July 2025 that the Commerce Department planned to resume reviewing license applications for its MI308 chips for China, with shipments to start after approvals arrived. (cnbc.com) Instead, the approvals appear to be piling up inside the same bureau that is also managing tariff probes and other national security work. Bloomberg reported that Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler has insisted on personally examining nearly every license application. (finance.yahoo.com) Kessler was sworn in as Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security on March 13, 2025, putting him in charge of export controls and technology restrictions at the bureau. (congress.gov) Federal watchdogs had already warned that the bureau’s workload was outgrowing its staffing plan. The Government Accountability Office said in June 2025 that the agency had not conducted a bureau-wide workforce planning effort since 2016. (gao.gov) The bureau’s own website shows how much else has landed on its desk: export-control rule changes, enforcement actions, and a widening list of Section 232 national security investigations, including semiconductors. (bis.gov) For chipmakers and their customers, the problem is no longer only whether Washington will permit a sale. It is whether the office that writes and enforces the rules still has enough people to process the paperwork on time. (finance.yahoo.com)
