Among all the hubbub surrounding Nvidia's announcement that it was filing applications to sell H20 GPUs to China once more, it would be easy to forget that it's not the only company making desirable high-end AI hardware. It looks like AMD wants to get in on the Chinese summer AI GPU bonanza, too.
That's according to respected industry analyst Patrick Moorhead, who's posted a statement from AMD confirming that its own license application to export MI308 products to China will be "moving forward for review."
Looks like $AMD MI308 for 🇨🇳is a go as well. Statement from @AMD below: pic.twitter.com/mesdbvWyw9July 15, 2025
Bloomberg also confirms that AMD's MI308 chips may soon be winging their way eastwards, as part of the Trump administration's apparent loosening of restrictions regarding the export of high-powered US chips to China.
The deal is said to be part of a newly minted trade agreement between the countries involving rare earth metals and magnets, and comes as something of a surprise given the US government's recent position on China.
Reports earlier this year suggested that President Trump was keen on tightening export controls on semiconductors and high-end US chips crossing the border, while in April, his administration hit China with stonkingly high tariffs on a variety of trade goods.
Still, the restrictions appear to be easing (at least with the correct license), so it's no surprise that AMD wants to grab the opportunity with both hands. Its Instinct MI300 Series AI accelerators have been fairly well-received, and the MI308 was developed specifically to comply with earlier export controls.
Still, much like the gaming market, it's estimated that Nvidia holds the vast majority of the AI GPU market share, up to 92% by some calculations. The opening up of the trade border represents an opportunity to make headway in a market that was otherwise inaccessible, though, so I'd imagine AMD will be keen to hit the ground running as soon as those licenses are cleared.
