The United States government has announced that Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) must obtain an export license to sell its MI308 Artificial Intelligence chips to China, in line with increasingly stringent regulations targeting high-performance semiconductor exports. AMD reported on April 16, 2025, through an SEC filing, that these new licensing requirements could result in significant additional expenses related to inventory, purchase commitments, and reserves, though the exact figure remains unspecified. The company has acknowledged its intent to comply by applying for the necessary licenses but warns there is no assurance of approval from US authorities.
This move comes after previous US actions to restrict the export of advanced chips that can accelerate Artificial Intelligence development in China, citing national security concerns. As a workaround, AMD had engineered the MI308 chip with reduced performance to circumvent earlier restrictions, similar to strategies adopted by competitors NVIDIA and Intel. However, the latest mandate targets even these modified products, affecting not only AMD but also NVIDIA´s H20 chip and Intel´s Gaudi 3 Artificial Intelligence processors—each far exceeding the newly specified performance and bandwidth thresholds. Intel has also informed Chinese clients that licenses will be required for chips with certain memory and I/O bandwidths, further tightening supplies of advanced hardware for China’s technology sector.
The policy escalation triggered immediate market consequences. Stock prices for AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel all experienced sharp declines on April 16, 2025—with AMD and NVIDIA losing about 7% and Intel 3% in a single day. The drop rippled through technology-heavy indices such as the Nasdaq Composite, causing a broader sell-off affecting major firms like Meta, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. The new export licensing regime not only underscores enduring tensions in US-China technology relations but also introduces fresh volatility and operational uncertainty for global semiconductor leaders navigating compliance and market access challenges.
