Is It Legal for the US to Require 15% of Nvidia’s China Sales? - DTNSB 5079

The UK tells Wikipedia to wait to sue, and Bodie Grimm from the Kilowatt podcast joins us to tell US car shoppers what EVs might be good to get before the EV tax credit expires.

Starring Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, and Bodie Grimm.

TOM: This is the Daily Tech News for Monday, August 11, 2025. We tell you what you need to know, follow up on the context of those stories, and help each other understand.

ROBB: Today, Bodie Grimm tells us what EV to get in the US before the tax credit goes away there, and Nvidia and AMD agree to share 15% of some revenue with the US. We’ll explain it all.

I’m Tom Merritt,

I’m Robb Dunewood

TOM: Let’s start with what you need to know with the big story.

[[BIG STORY]]
[[SOLO story of the day. Basic details, monitor commentary and sound when possible.]]

Nvidia, AMD may sell high-end AI chips to China if they pay US a cut | TechCrunch
Nvidia, AMD to Pay 15% of China AI Chip Sale Revenue to U.S. Government - WSJ
Chip deal: Why the US is taking a cut from China sales
Trump Bid for Cut of Chip Revenue Risks ‘Dangerous World’ - Bloomberg
Export Clause and Taxes | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

TOM: The Financial Times sources tell it that Nvidia and AMD have agreed to pay the US government 15% of the revenue that they make from selling chips to companies in China.

The US restricts what kinds of chips US companies or companies using US intellectual property can sell to Chinese-based companies. Nvidia developed its H20 chip and AMD its MI308 chip specifically to avoid restrictions. Even those chips were restricted in April but those restrictions were paused, and Nvdia said in mid-July it could soon resume sales.

The US Department of Commerce started issuing official licenses for the sale of Nvidia and AMD's chips on Friday.

The H20 uses Nvidia's previous Hopper architecture. The current architecture is Blackwell. Though Nvidia says it is designing a chip for China on the Blackwell architecture as well. The restrictions mean Nvidia and AMD need to design the chips to be good at inference but not training. Inference is the execution of AI models, like when you make requests.

China makes its own chips as well, but can't yet make enough to meet demand. ByteDance, Tencent, and DeepSeek bought H20s before the US cut off access in April.

The revenue share with the US government is not entirely unprecedented in this administration. The US reached a deal for a "golden share" of revenue from US Steel when it approved its takeover by Nippon Steel in June. Though that involved a stake in the company, the revenue share with Nvidia and AMD does not appear to involve shares.

Several analysts have said this deal could violate Article I, Section 9, Clause 5 of the US Constitution, which says "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State." The US Supreme Court has interpreted this to mean any export to foreign territories. However, the administration may make the argument that this is a tax on a particular good, not a tax on the export. It just happens that nobody domestically is in the market for the H20 or the MI308.

The official annotated Constitution from the US Congress's website says that "The Supreme Court has ruled that the Export Clause’s restriction on Congress’s taxing power does not extend to several taxes, such as a tax on all property alike, including property intended for export but not in the course of exportation."

But we don't know the details other than reporting by the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal.

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[[BREAK]]
[[PAUSE]]

TOM: There’s more we need to know today, let’s get to the briefs.

[[BRIEFS]]

How to restore GPT-4o when you've GPT-5

ROBB: Last week, when OpenAI launched GPT-5, it took away the option for people to use older models. The idea is that ChatGPT can pick the best model to use based on your query. But, after a lot of people complained, OpenAI restored the ability to use one of the older models, GPT-4o. And, if you pay for the plus version, there is now an option in settings to "show legacy models."

Matter enhancements enable cheaper HomeKit devices and slicker control - 9to5Mac

TOM: Matter, the standard for smart home interoperability, just released the 1.4.2 spec. It allows manufacturers to qualify as Matter even if they don't support Bluetooth, only WiFi. Before, Bluetooth was required at least for setup, which made Matter-compliant devices more expensive since they had to have both radios. The standard also now supports time-based behavior, like changing color as the day progresses, rather than requiring constant commands to be sent throughout the day. The number of times devices report status has been reduced, which could save battery life. And the standards for robot vacuum cleaners have been streamlined so that they don't vary as much between brands, making them easier to set up and more reliable. This update to the spec will trickle out in devices as they implement it.

Debian 13 'trixie' released with five years of support and new architecture options - BetaNews
Nvidia unveils new Cosmos world models, infra for robotics and physical uses | TechCrunch
Fairphone’s new cables and chargers are both faster and tougher | The Verge

ROBB: We have a few notable product releases to tell you about.
Debian Linux released its first stable release in more than two years. Version 13, codenamed "trixie" will have 5 years of support and adds 64-bit RISC-V support.
And at SIGGRAPH on Monday, Nvidia released several new world AI models, libraries, and other updates for robotics developers. The one getting the most attention is "Cosmos Reason," which, as the name implies, is a reasoning model for computer vision.
And Fairphone is offering USB cables and chargers in the UK and EU, made with recycled materials.

Exclusive | Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Meet with Trump at White House Today - WSJ

TOM: Last week, the president of the US called for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign. This week, the two are meeting at the White House. Among other things, the Malaysian-born US citizen, Tan, will presumably explain why he is not implicated by the recent admission of violation of export controls to China by Cadence Designs, which took place while he was CEO there.

AOL's dial-up internet still exists, but not for much longer
AOL will end dial-up internet service in September, 34 years after its debut — AOL Shield Browser and AOL Dialer software will be shuttered on the same day | Tom's Hardware

ROBB: You may be surprised to learn that Yahoo’s AOL dial-up internet service still exists. And you probably are not surprised to hear that, the reason I bring it up, is that it won't exist for much longer. AOL said it will discontinue dial-up service on September 30th. AOL says the number of remaining subscribers is in the low thousands.

Apple's new Siri may allow users to operate apps just using voice | TechCrunch
Apple working with these apps to prepare for next-gen Siri - 9to5Mac
An upcoming phone could offer double the battery capacity of S25 Ultra

TOM: And now, a couple of sources say stories about upcoming products. First, the venerable Mark Gurman says that his sources say Apple is testing an Agentic version of Siri that can take action across multiple apps based on your voice commands, through something called the App Intents system. Gurman used the example of asking Siri to search for a photo, edit it, and send it to someone. Supposedly, Apple is testing it with Uber, AllTrails, Threads, Temu, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp, as well as a few games. And as a non-Apple chaser, Android Authority notes that Digital Chat Station said on Weibo that Honor is testing a smartphone with a 10,000mAh battery. That would be good for three days without charging.

Amazon tops 100 satellites after weather-delayed Kuiper launch

ROBB: Amazon's Kuiper satellites are a competitor for space-based internet, like OneWeb and Starlink. Amazon launched 24 Kuiper satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday, bringing its total to 102. The US FCC requires Amazon to have 1,600 satellites in orbit by the end of July next year and all 3,236 for full operating up by July 2029.

Wikipedia loses challenge to UK Online Safety Act – POLITICO
Microsoft Sued For Killing Windows 10—All Users Must Act Now
Hyundai wants Ioniq 5 owners to pay to fix a keyless entry security hole | The Verge

TOM: A couple of court cases of note, plus one to come. The UK High Court dismissed Wikimedia's challenge to the UK Online Safety Act, though it said the organization could have grounds for legal action in the future. Wikimedia worries that it will be categorized as a social network, which would force it to verify the identity of users, going against the entire ethos of how Wikipedia works. The court said to come back once it has been categorized. And Lawrence Klein filed a lawsuit in California against Microsoft, seeking an injunction to force the company to continue to offer free support for Windows 10 beyond the end date on October 14th. Windows 10 users can get support by paying between $30-$60 or cashing in points. Not all PCs can upgrade to Windows 11 under Microsoft's own rules. Klein wants Windows 10 to be supported until less than 10% of the Windows user base is using Windows 11. And Hyundai is charging £49 for an optional security upgrade for Ioniq 5 EVs in the UK sold before February 2024. The upgrade will prevent thieves from being able to use a Gameboy-sized device to unlock and start cars without needing the key. Those cars also have a 5-year warranty so.

ESPN, Fox Offer Streaming Sports Bundle With New Services

ROBB: ESPN's online streaming service launches in the US on August 21st, the same day as Fox ONE launches. ESPN gives you all of its broadcast and cable TV sports content in the streaming service for $29.99. Fox ONE gives you all its broadcast and cable content for $19.99 a month. The two services will be available as a bundle starting October 2nd for $39.99. That will give you almost all the sports that was expected in the sports bundle called Venu, which would have also included sports from Warner Bros. Discovery. Venu was sued by Fubo and was canceled. Fubo now operates a joint venture with ESPN's parent company, Disney.

TOM: Those are the essentials for today. Let’s dive a little deeper.

[[IN DEPTH]]
[[Pre-made packages, interviews, discussions. Each is 3-10 mins, depending on the topic and what else is in the show that day. Can be dropped on some days.]]

[[SEGMENT A - FROM SCHEDULE]]

ROBB: The U.S. Federal EV Tax Credit is going away for many vehicles on September 30, 2025, so if you’re looking to take advantage of the $7,500 federal tax credit you better hurry. Tom caught up with Bodie Grimm to find out what EVs you might want to buy if you're ready to pull the trigger.

[[PROMO]]

TOM: Next week is our annual Experiment week on DTNS! Instead of our regular episodes, we’ll have people trying out new ideas. One of them will be live reactions to the Google Pixel release. We’ll be back with regular episodes the week after.

[[BREAK]]
[[PAUSE]]

[[HELPING EACH OTHER UNDERSTAND]]
[[This is the mailbag/special contributions segment. Should be short missives from people with experience. Could be written email or pre-recorded from the person.]]

ROBB: We end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. Today ANonJr follows up on his experiments with ChatGPT.

TOM:
AnonJr posted on Patreon: On the Listener Feedback episode I mentioned I was going to use ChatGPT as a low-rent research assistant. I have been using Geeps more, and I have had to be rather mindful... in one more recent example I was looking for an answer to a D&D rules question. Part of the answer contradicted some rules I knew, so I queried more, got answers citing books and page numbers ... that had nothing to do with the issues in question. I was told "You brazenly uncovered a discrepancy between the Player’s Handbook and later sources..." and fed another reference to a book and page number — that didn't have anything to do with the issues at hand. After pointing that out and asking for clarification, I finally got something that adhered to the printed rules and sounded more right with the parts I was trying to research. That happens, but not as often as I feared. It's been a good way to collate information from a variety of sources. Just... check them like you would a research assistant you got on Fiverr.

[[DISCUSS]]

ROBB: What are you thinking about? Got some insight into a story? Share it with us — feedback@dailytechnewsshow.com

TOM: Thanks to Bodie Grimm and AnonJr for contributing to today’s show. And thank YOU for being along for Daily Tech News Show. You can keep us in business by becoming a patron atPatreon.com/dtns