Report: China Demands US Ease AI Chip Ban for Trade Talks.
China wants US to relax AI chip-export controls for trade deal, FT reports
In response to the Financial Times on Sunday, China wants the US to relax export restrictions on chips that are essential for AI as part of a trade agreement ahead of a potential summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
The newspaper quoted unnamed people familiar with the situation to report that Chinese officials told Washington experts that Beijing wants the Trump administration to loosen export restrictions on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips.
Requests for comments on the report were not immediately answered by the State Department, the White House, or China’s foreign ministry.
Investors are keeping a close eye on HBM chips because they work well with AI graphic processors, especially Nvidia’s NVDA.O, and help speed up data-intensive AI tasks.
China is worried, according to the FT, because US HBM regulations make it more difficult for Chinese firms like Huawei to create their own AI chips.
In an effort to hinder Beijing’s advancements in artificial intelligence and defense, the United States has reduced its exports of sophisticated chips to China under several administrations.
Although this has made it more difficult for US companies to meet the rapidly increasing demand from China, one of the biggest semiconductor markets in the world, it still contributes significantly to US chipmakers’ earnings.
Published in Daily Pak, August 10th, 2025
