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Updates after retail sales data

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal

April 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street was on track to open lower on Wednesday, with AI-chip heavyweight Nvidia expected to drag after flagging steep charges from new U.S. controls on chip exports to China, the latest flashpoint in an escalating global trade war.

The U.S. Commerce Department late on Tuesday issued new export licensing requirements for Nvidia's NVDA.O H20 and AMD's AMD.O MI308 artificial-intelligence chips to China.

Nvidia NVDA.O said it faces $5.5 billion in charges after the restrictions on exports to China, a key market for one of its most popular chips.

Shares of Nvidia slumped 6.8% in premarket trading, while AMD shares lost 7%. Other chip stocks also lost ground, with Micron Technology MU.O down 4.8% and Broadcom AVGO.O falling 3.7%.

Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 NQcv1 led declines.

The export controls are the newest attempt from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to keep advanced semiconductors from being sold to China.

Nvidia's warning highlighted the impact of the trade tensions on businesses and fueled worries that the constant shifts in U.S. trade policy would hit domestic consumption and economic growth.

"It's going to create a lot of uncertainty for companies in terms of (the) decisions they make," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer, Northlight Asset Management.

"I would expect investors to be slightly less willing to buy stocks of chipmakers, technology companies and things like that until they have a more clear picture as to what the final rules of the road will be."

Those worries have also led to sharp volatility in financial markets, with all three major Wall Street indexes losing ground so far this year.

The CBOE volatility index .VIX, Wall Street's "fear gauge," ticked up 1.6 points to 31.72 after falling for the last three sessions.

Separately, Trump ordered an investigation into potential new tariffs on all critical minerals imports.

At 8:40 a.m., Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were down 101 points, or 0.25%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were down 50.25 points, or 0.93%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 313.25 points, or 1.65%.

Investors are now hawk-eyed about the outlook from companies this earnings season.

United Airlines UAL.O jumped 5.8% after the company reported stable bookings despite forecasting lower profit for the current quarter and flagging risks if the U.S. economy slips into a recession.

Data showed March retail sales rose 1.4%, more than expected. However, that did little to lift sentiment.

The stronger data was likely due to consumers trying to buy products ahead of the implementation of tariffs, Zaccarelli said.

Investors will closely monitor a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later in the day for indications on how the central bank will respond to the market's volatility, coupled with growth worries.

Traders see a 20% chance the Fed will ease rates by 25 basis points at its May meeting, according to CME's FedWatch.

Tesla TSLA.O fell 2.2% after Reuters reported that Trump's tariffs on Chinese parts had disrupted the EV-maker's production plans.

(Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Pooja Desai)

((LisaPauline.Mattackal@thomsonreuters.com;))