Digitimes May 18 Post-Summit Assessment: US-China AI Chip Export Controls Structurally Unresolved — First Bilateral AI Governance Framework Agreed, Tech Bifurcation Accelerates on Independent Track

Digitimes published a May 18 post-summit technology assessment confirming that the May 14–15 Trump-Xi Beijing summit produced no breakthrough on the core US-China semiconductor conflict. Key assessment points as of May 18: (1) US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stated chip export controls were 'not a major part of the talks' — effectively confirming that the structural technology decoupling track is now insulated from diplomatic exchange; (2) US Commerce cleared Nvidia H200 chip sales to approximately 10 Chinese firms (Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, JD.com, Lenovo) but zero units have been delivered — Chinese companies have not placed orders, with Beijing directing firms to redirect procurement to domestic Huawei Ascend hardware; a licensing framework reportedly requiring Nvidia to remit 15–25% of China sales revenue to the US government is making H200 purchases commercially unattractive; (3) A first-of-its-kind bilateral AI governance framework was established at the summit: mutual capability notification when AI systems cross defined performance thresholds, plus an incident-sharing mechanism — the first institutionalized US-China AI governance dialogue and the only substantive tech output of the meeting; (4) Trade tensions eased via the May 12 trade truce (tariffs 145%→30% baseline), but the semiconductor export controls and AI technology tracks are now functionally independent of tariff negotiations — the two tracks are bifurcating structurally; (5) Industry consensus as of May 18: the summit achieved symbolic diplomatic stabilization while technology bifurcation accelerates on its own trajectory, with SMIC Q2 revenue guided +14–16% QoQ (AI-driven), Hua Hong committing $6B to Wuxi expansion, and Huawei Ascend commanding ~60% of China's domestic AI chip market.