Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices have agreed to hand the U.S. government 15% of the revenue from certain AI chips they sell in China, in exchange for the export licenses Washington had frozen, the Financial Times reports. The arrangement covers Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308—processors that were developed for China or geared for AI applications after Washington first curbed their high-end sales.

It is an extraordinary structure. Rather than banning the sales outright or waving them through, the administration is taking a cut, effectively converting export controls into a revenue share. The White House moved in April to restrict H20 and MI308 shipments to China on national-security grounds; this deal reopens access to China while sending a slice of the proceeds to the U.S. government.

Nvidia says it follows the rules Washington sets and hopes export policy will let American firms compete in China, noting it has not shipped H20 there for months. Critics call the pay-to-export model unprecedented and warn it could put U.S. national security at risk. Pragmatic thaw or dangerous precedent is the argument consuming the chip world this weekend.