I called some CEOs yesterday to get their thoughts on Nvidia and AMD’s deal to give the U.S. government a 15% cut of AI chip sales to China to secure export licenses. Most were surprisingly sanguine about the unusual arrangement.

Nvidia and AMD have agreed to pay the US government 15% of their revenues from semiconductor sales to China in exchange for export licenses, an unprecedented quid pro quo arrangement aimed at solidifying America’s AI business dominance while maintaining trade ties with China.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the recent deal to allow Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to resume lower-end AI chip sales to China, on the condition they give the U.S.