On August 11, 2025, President Donald Trump announced the US government’s plan allowing NVIDIA and AMD to sell certain AI chips to China, but requiring them to pay the U.S. government a 15% fee on those sales.
LASST submitted FOIA requests concerning the Trump Administration’s reasons for this policy because this policy directly affects who can access advanced AI chips, how the U.S. regulates AI exports, and the global safety and security risks tied to frontier compute. It signals how the US government is approaching AI oversight and shapes the incentives of major chipmakers, which are core issues for AI governance and safety.
Venture capitalist David Sacks has been serving as an advisor to President Trump on AI issues under a “special government employee” designation since the beginning of the Trump administration while holding significant tech investments himself. SGE’s are meant to work 130 days or fewer in a 365-day period. LASST submitted FOIA requests for time sheets and other documentation to determine whether Sacks is complying with this 130-day limit.