Nvidia’s artificial-intelligence chips have been at the center of U.S.-China trade negotiations for months, yet it appears China is discouraging its companies from buying one of them: the H20s. Why? Sales of the chips to Chinese companies helped get China to agree to reboot its exports to the U.

Nvidia and AMD have agreed to pay the US government 15% of their revenues from semiconductor sales to China in exchange for export licenses, an unprecedented quid pro quo arrangement aimed at solidifying America’s AI business dominance while maintaining trade ties with China.