Daily: Backlog at BIS stalls H20 chip licence
6 min read.
Highlights
Trouble at BIS. Reuters reports on the bottleneck at the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Commerce Dept body responsible for export controls. Weeks after Nvidia’s H20 chips got the green light from Trump and Lutnick, the licences for chip exports to China still have not been granted. The licence granting backlog is also affecting semiconductor manufacturing equipment, with no indication when the licences will be issued. The BIS backlog is due to staff shortage from buyouts and resignations, limited industry engagement and, restrictive management.
Intel execs leave. WSJ and Reuters independently report on several high level executives leaving Intel amid changes at the struggling chipmaker. Most notably, Intel’s 2024 “Inventor of the Year” Gang Duan, whose research involves chip packaging and glass substrates, is moving to Smasung.
Korean chip exports jump. Korea’s semiconductor exports in July jumped 31.6% yoy, driven by HBM and DRAM (DDR5) demand and hitting a record high. I imagine some of that is temporary tariff-related ‘pull forward’ orders and some of it is structural demand for cutting-edge memory.
1. Policy and Geopolitics
1.1
Reuters (08/02): US government turmoil stalls thousands of export approvals, sources say
Thousands of license applications by U.S. companies to export goods and technology around the globe, including to China, are in limbo because turmoil at the agency in charge of approving them has left it nearly paralyzed, two sources said.
Sources said the export bureau under Lutnick's command has failed to issue expected new rules, stifled communications with industry representatives, pushed out experts, and lost staff through buyouts and resignations.
Shipments of artificial intelligence chips from Nvidia to China are the most high-profile example of licenses not being swiftly approved. The company said July 14 the government assured it licenses would be granted for its H20 chip, and it hoped to start deliveries soon. Lutnick and other officials confirmed sales would be allowed.
But sources said this week no licenses have yet been issued, and billions of dollars of AI chip orders are at stake.
“We’re seeing whole sectors where there is no movement or indication if or when licenses will be issued," including license applications for semiconductor manufacturing equipment worth billions of dollars, said Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council.
1.2
Reuters (08/02): China state media says Nvidia must provide 'security proofs' to regain trust
Nvidia must produce "convincing security proofs" to eliminate Chinese users' worries over security risks in its chips and regain market trust, a commentary published by China's state-run media People's Daily said on Friday.
Foreign companies must comply with Chinese laws and take security to be a basic prerequisite, said the commentary - titled "Nvidia, how can I trust you?" - which was published on the paper's social media account.
2. Economy, Finance, and Business
2.1
WSJ (08/01): Intel Chip-Packaging Expert Takes Job at Samsung
A longtime Intel expert in chip packaging who was named its inventor of the year in 2024 has left the U.S. company and taken a job at Samsung’s components business.
Gang Duan has done pioneering work including using glass in new ways to package semiconductors. Among other advantages, glass is more durable than materials widely used in chip packaging today and offers better thermal stability, helping chips efficiently handle huge amounts of data. That makes it a critical technology for next-generation semiconductors used in training artificial-intelligence models.
2.2
Reuters (08/01): Three Intel senior executives to retire amid manufacturing shake up
Three senior executives in Intel's manufacturing operations are set to retire, Intel told Reuters on Thursday, as new CEO Lip-Bu Tan implements sweeping change to resuscitate the struggling U.S. chipmaker.
Intel told staff on Tuesday that corporate vice presidents in the technology development group, Kaizad Mistry and Ryan Russell, would retire, as would Gary Patton, corporate vice president at its Design Technology Platform organization and a former IBM executive.
Intel also discussed changes to the technology development group, which is responsible for creating manufacturing processes, said two people briefed on the matter. The chipmaker plans to reduce its manufacturing capacity planning team and cut a portion of its engineering team, the people said.
2.3
TrendForce (08/04): South Korea Posts Record July Chip Exports, Up 31.6% YoY on HBM and DDR5 Demand
South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on August 1 that exports in July 2025 reached USD 60.82 billion—an impressive 5.9% increase year-over-year—setting a new record high for the month of July and marking the strongest annual growth in seven months since December 2024.
As the report highlights, the surge was driven by robust demand for AI-related technologies and a rush by companies to stock up on chips ahead of potential tariffs threatened by Donald Trump on imported semiconductors. As a result, South Korea’s semiconductor exports in July soared to USD 14.71 billion, up 31.6% year-over-year, setting a new all-time high for the month.
Yonhap News highlights that the growth was driven by rising memory chip prices and steady demand for high-value products like HBM chips and DDR5.
2.4
TrendForce (08/04): Samsung Bets on Local Chip Firm Rebellions and Israeli Startup Teramount to Ride the AI Wave
Rebellions has secured backing from Samsung as part of an ongoing funding round targeting $150 million to $200 million, according to CFO Sungkyue Shin. While Samsung’s exact investment wasn’t disclosed, it marks a strategic move amid Rebellions’ push toward a future IPO, the report suggests.
Notably, the report suggests that Samsung is manufacturing Rebellions’ semiconductors using its 4nm—matching the node behind NVIDIA’s Blackwell chips made by TSMC. On the other hand, Rebellions is still weighing options for its HBM supplier, the report adds.
Meanwhile, in late July, Samsung, through its venture capital arm Samsung Catalyst Fund, has made a strategic investment in Teramount as part of a $50 million Series A round.
2.5
Bloomberg (08/01): China’s InnoScience Rises 31% After Named as Nvidia Supplier
Chinese chipmaker InnoScience Suzhou Technology Holding Co. closed up 31% in Hong Kong on Friday after it was identified by Nvidia Corp. as a supplier.
Nvidia named InnoScience as a supplier for its 800V HVDC architecture on an updated silicon partner list on Thursday. The latest list, compared to an archived version from July 22, also shows Nvidia added Analog Devices Inc., ON Semiconductor Corp. and Renesas Electronics Corp. as silicon suppliers for the new architecture to support growing power demand from AI infrastructure.
InnoScience is the only China-based company among those suppliers. The Suzhou-based company confirmed the partnership in a statement on Friday, saying it together with Nvidia can help achieve more efficient and greener computing. The company offers compound semiconductors used in power systems for a wide range of applications from autos to data centers, according to its website.
3. Technology
3.1
Reuters (08/02): Alphabet's CapitalG, Nvidia in talks to fund Vast Data at up to $30 billion valuation, sources say
Alphabet's growth-stage venture arm CapitalG and Nvidia are in talks to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure provider Vast Data in a new funding round that could value the startup as high as $30 billion, two sources said.
The startup is raising several billion dollars from tech giants, private equity and venture capital investors, which could make it one of the most valuable AI startups, the two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as companies building the backbone for the AI boom come into sharper focus.
New York-headquartered Vast Data develops storage technology specifically designed for large AI data centers, enabling efficient data movement between graphics processors (GPUs) made by the likes of Nvidia.
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Cover Photo by Ian Hutchinson on Unsplash