Episode summary
Nvidia, AMD to Pay US 15% of China Chip Sales in Trump Deal | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 23 min · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Lisa Mateo · Guests: Ed Ludlow, Brendan Murray, Erin Williamson, Geetha Ranganathan
Summary
Nvidia and AMD are reported to have struck an unprecedented arrangement with the Trump administration: a 15% share of revenues from certain China AI chip sales in exchange for export licenses. Ed Ludlow said the deal would let both companies resume selling chips they designed for the Chinese market, but he warned the levy could amount to billions of dollars a year and complicate Wall Street models. He also said the move fits a broader pattern of the administration extracting concessions from major tech companies while preserving access to China as a negotiating tool.
Brendan Murray said President Trump’s tariffs are hitting small US importers especially hard. Citing the US Chamber of Commerce, he said there are about 236,000 small business importers facing a combined tariff bill of roughly $200 billion a year, or almost $900,000 per company. He argued many small firms lack the staff, cash flow, and customs expertise to absorb the costs, so the burden will eventually be passed through to consumers and suppliers.
On media, Geetha Ranganathan said Paramount Skydance’s $7.7 billion UFC rights deal is a bold statement about where the company wants to compete. She said the package includes all UFC events, not just select fights, and positions Paramount Plus and CBS for a bigger role in live sports streaming. She also said the deal reflects a broader shift in which sports are becoming available on streaming platforms rather than only through pay TV.
Key takeaways
- Ed Ludlow said the Nvidia and AMD China deal is effectively a 15% export levy tied to license approvals, something he called unprecedented.
- Ludlow said Nvidia could be paying about $1 billion in cost on a bullish $7 billion China revenue scenario in fiscal 2Q 2026.
- Brendan Murray said about 236,000 US small business importers could face roughly $200 billion a year in tariff costs, or almost $900,000 each.
- Murray said small firms often cannot absorb tariffs for long and may have to pass costs through the supply chain.
- Geetha Ranganathan said Paramount Skydance’s $7.7 billion UFC deal is meant to make Paramount Plus a must-have sports platform.
- Ranganathan said all UFC content, including marquee events and fight nights, will move to Paramount Plus with no pay-per-view layer.
Notable quotes
“they will give up 15% of of future revenues and you know the math's important”
“the market in one hand sees this as really positive. you know, they have been campaigning to be able to sell into China”
“about 236,000 uh small business importers in the US”
“they're looking at about 200 uh billion dollars uh a year is the is is the tariff bill”
How the episode opens
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Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. One of the names that it uh Tatiana was talking about was Nvidia uh AMD.
These companies, chip companies cutting a deal potentially uh with President Trump to pay 15% on China AI chip sales in a deal with the US government. And I can't recall seeing similar type deals before. But let's get the latest on this.
Ed Lo, he covers all the technology stuff for uh Bloomberg. Uh he's out there in London, but he's back home in London right now. Uh Ed, thanks so much for joining us here.
Can you break down kind of this deal for Nvidia and AMD? How did this whole thing come about?
Yeah, I mean it's it's an unprecedented arrangement if you consider it simply an export tax. um you know what what we understand from sourcing is like this is a quid proquo that export licenses for Nvidia and AMD to be permitted to sell a specific chip that each of the companies had designed for the Chinese market they will give up 15% of of future revenues and you know the math's important um you know historically those numbers you were going over in the in the past segment prior segment 24% for AMD 13% for Nvidia those are from in the last fiscal year and the state of play has been that Nvidia and AMD have not been allowed to sell product directly into China. Um they haven't done you know Nvidia is the only company that's commented on this reporting and story and they did so very purposefully saying we have not yet shipped any of our so-called H20 chip.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- china chip export licenses
- nvidia amd revenue share terms
- us tariffs compliance
- customs brokerage costs
- paramount ufc media rights deal
Companies and tickers mentioned
- NVDA
- AMD
- PARA
- Nvidia
- Advanced Micro Devices
- Geodis
- Paramount
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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