Perspective – Written by Philip Pilkington
Recently the Trump administration surprised market analysts by announcing that it will put a 15 percent export tax on Nvidia and AMD chip sales to China. These companies were previously banned from selling advanced chips like the H20 and MI308 to the Chinese due to the American government’s concerns that they would be used by the Chinese military. For the companies, the 15 percent tax is less onerous than an all-out ban, but it raises the question: what is the goal of the 15 percent tax? Even if some might view it as misguided, the logic of the ban was clear: to prevent the Chinese from getting access to advanced chips. The export tax, however, puts into focus the relationship between the administration’s new policies and the government’s need for revenue.
The full analysis is available here.