AMD gets export licenses approval for China-specific Instinct MI308 GPUs, NVIDIA still waiting

AMD says it 'surprisingly' received export licensing from the Trump administration for its China-specific Instinct MI308 AI accelerators.

AMD gets export licenses approval for China-specific Instinct MI308 GPUs, NVIDIA still waiting
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Gaming Editor
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TL;DR: AMD received U.S. export licenses to sell its new Instinct MI308 AI GPU in China, positioning it ahead of NVIDIA amid regulatory challenges. The MI308, comparable to NVIDIA's H20 GPU, marks AMD's strategic entry into the Chinese AI market, enhancing competition in advanced AI hardware deployment.

AMD has its new Instinct MI308 AI GPU in the ovens and ready to deploy into the Chinese AI market, after the Trump administration approved some licenses for its new MI308 chip to be sold in China.

AMD gets export licenses approval for China-specific Instinct MI308 GPUs, NVIDIA still waiting 27
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During the record Q3 2025 earnings call, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su said that the company had received approval for licenses to export its Instinct MI308 AI chips to China. We don't know the detailed specifications of the MI308 AI chip just yet, but it should be similar to NVIDIA's popular H20 AI GPU.

AMD CEO Lisa Su said: "So look, it's still a pretty dynamic situation with MI308. So that's the reason that we did not include any MI308 revenue in the Q4 guide. We have received some licenses for MI308, so we're appreciative of the administration supporting some licenses for MI308. We're still working with our customers on the demand environment and sort of what the overall opportunity is".

However, NVIDIA has been feeling a bit of hate from the US government on getting H20 export licenses, as well as the heat it's getting from the Chinese government in regard to the country not being happy with NVIDIA AI hardware being used on the mainland. AMD's new licenses being approved, puts it a (small) step ahead of the dominant AI hardware force -- NVIDIA -- when it comes to China.

NVIDIA has had its purported B40 AI GPU tweaked for China, entering production in June 2025, reportedly using GDDR7 memory over HBM3 or HBM3E memory. Maybe we'll see AMD release its Instinct MI308 AI chip into China, and now that AMD has had some export licenses approved, we'll see NVIDIA get the greenlight and the MI308 will fight the B40 in China.