Lawmakers from both parties are advancing bills to restrict AI chip exports to China following revelations about former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and an alleged Chinese spy.
By Hermes Vector
Congress is moving to tighten rules on exporting AI chips to China after revelations involving former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and a suspected Chinese spy. Huang resigned as Nvidia's chief executive and as a director this week.
Reuters counts at least four pending bills, including the AI Overwatch Act, the Chip Security Act, the MATCH Act and the Remote Access Security Act. The AI Overwatch Act, introduced by House Foreign Affairs chair Brian Mast, would give the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee 30 days each to review, and potentially block, licenses for advanced AI chip exports to China and other "countries of concern." The Chip Security Act would require companies to track where advanced AI processors end up, to prevent smuggling. The MATCH Act would push US allies to restrict sales and maintenance of chipmaking equipment going to China. The Remote Access Security Act would give the Commerce Department tools to stop Chinese firms from renting overseas data centers to reach Nvidia chips.
The AI Overwatch Act, the Chip Security Act and the MATCH Act are all in the Senate's version of the annual defense authorization bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Armed Services chair Roger Wicker said there is "no deal yet" to keep them in the final text.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Semafor that there is a "high probability" that Congress imposes more restrictions on chip exports to China. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said there is "a developing consensus in Congress" on the issue and that he personally supports efforts to restrict China's access to powerful AI chips from companies like Nvidia. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer wants all three bills passed.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott has sent letters to both Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick calling on them to publicly testify to the committee.
Anthropic has publicly supported all three bills, and OpenAI has been warming up to them as well after initially being reticent to support the proposals. The Information Technology Industry Council, a trade group, has argued that the current bills would "undermine the American tech stack."
The woman at the center of the reports, former Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, has not been charged, and Beijing denies that she is a spy. Nvidia sold $4 billion in chips to Singapore company Megaspeed, which is suspected of diverting that technology to China and under investigation by the Justice Department.
The Nvidia scandal has increased momentum in Congress to crack down on US hardware reaching China. If the export control bills become law, they could significantly restrict China's access to advanced American AI chips and change how chip exports are licensed and tracked.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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