AMD reports $390M in revenue from MI308 AI chip sales to China in Q4; CEO Lisa Su says orders were “from very early in 2025” but shipped in Q4 after US approval
Company sees $100m more revenue from China as Beijing weighs rules on Nvidia, other foreign chips
Context & Ripple Effects
AMD’s China AI-chip business had been constrained by U.S. export curbs: the company said those restrictions reduced AI-chip revenue in Q2, before it announced a planned restart of MI308 shipments to China after receiving Commerce Department assurances.
The Q4 revenue converts that earlier approval into reported sales and shows that orders placed early in 2025 remained unfilled until shipments could resume. It also extends AMD’s broader AI push, after the company reported AI-chip sales rising sharply in 2024 as it sought to compete more directly with Nvidia.
First-order effects
- AMD recognizes $390 million of Q4 revenue from MI308 sales in China, with a further $100 million of China revenue expected under its current outlook.
- Chinese MI308 customers receive previously ordered accelerators only after the U.S. approval process, making shipment timing—not just demand—the immediate determinant of AMD’s China sales.
Second-order effects
- The delayed release of early-2025 orders can make AMD’s quarterly AI revenue more dependent on export-license timing, complicating comparisons with periods when China shipments were curtailed, as seen in the Q2 revenue impact from the curbs.
- Beijing’s consideration of rules affecting Nvidia and other foreign chips raises the prospect that AMD’s reopened channel could still face policy risk on the customer side, even where U.S. approvals permit shipments.
Third-order effects
- The episode points to a bifurcated AI-accelerator market in which product availability and revenue recognition are increasingly shaped by overlapping U.S. export approvals and Chinese procurement rules rather than demand alone.
- If such controls persist, foreign chipmakers’ China strategies will likely require more adaptable product, inventory, and sales planning; the durability of that shift depends on future decisions by both governments.
The trend: AI-infrastructure demand is being transmitted through a policy-governed supply chain, where access to accelerators can be reopened or constrained by regulators on either side of the market.