Does a used GPU need an export license?

Age is not the question the rules ask. A used or refurbished item is subject to the Export Administration Regulations exactly as a new one. Classification follows technical parameters rather than age (15 CFR 734.3).

So a card that came out of a decommissioned rack is read the same way a sealed one is. Whether a license is required on a given shipment turns on the item, the buyer, the destination and the end use. This page sets out what the published guidance says a seller should establish before it reaches that question. It is not a legal opinion on any transaction.

Advanced computing items are the GPUs and GPU servers controlled under ECCN 3A090, 4A090 and the related .z entries.

An item inside those entries stays inside them after three years in a data center. Nothing in the refurbishing work changes the parameters the classification rests on. One procedure can therefore cover new and used stock, since the rule reads them the same way.

The BIS guidance of May 31 2026 says a license is required to export advanced computing items to an entity headquartered in Country Group D:5 or Macau, or whose ultimate parent is, "even if the entities themselves are located outside Country Group D:5 or Macau."

That puts two facts on the seller's desk on every advanced computing deal. One is where the buyer is headquartered. The other is where its ultimate parent is headquartered. The address on the purchase order establishes neither one. The May 13 2025 guidance writes the group as "Country Group D:5 (including China) or Macau."

The BIS guidance of May 13 2025 lists eleven red flags and seven due diligence actions for advanced computing items. It asks sellers to collect a customer certification naming four things.

• The customer's role in the transaction.
• Its intended activity with the items.
• The delivery address.
• The headquarters of the customer and of its ultimate parent.

The same guidance closes with this sentence. Exporters "may not self-blind to avoid license requirements."

A certification on file is a record of what the buyer stated. The seller's own work is the seven due diligence actions and the eleven red flags the guidance sets out alongside it.

The published guidance describes what to ask, what to record and what to treat as a red flag. It does not decide a transaction.

We build the procedure, support classification, screen the buyer and keep the record. A legal opinion on a specific transaction, a voluntary self-disclosure or an enforcement matter is a lawyer's work, and the client brings its own counsel when a matter needs one.

The programs that carry this work are described on the export compliance program page. To start, use the form at /practice-inquiry.