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President Donald Trump’s plan to license Nvidia to ship some of its more powerful artificial intelligence chips to China has upset some of Washington’s most prominent China hawks, including members of his own party.
The backlash intensified this week when the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a bill that would expand Congressional oversight of AI chip exports.
The proposal, known as the AI Surveillance Act, was introduced last month by the committee’s chairman, Rep. Brian Mast, Republican of Florida.
The move would require both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee to approve shipments of advanced chips within 30 days, and would give lawmakers the power to block sales through a joint resolution.
The bill comes as the Trump administration plans to authorize: Nvidia The move is to sell the H200 chip, which is much more powerful than the processors previously allowed to be exported, to China.
If passed, the AI Surveillance Act would revoke existing licenses for such AI chip transfers and impose a temporary ban until the administration submits a national security strategy on AI exports. It includes an exemption for “trusted” U.S. companies that ship chips overseas under U.S. control, provided they meet security standards.
“Companies like Nvidia are demanding that millions of advanced AI chips, the cutting edge of warfare, be sold to Chinese military companies such as: alibaba and tencent” Chairman Mast said, calling it a national security risk.
The bill is also co-sponsored by Rep. John Moolener (R-Mich.), the Republican chairman of the Select Committee on China, who said the bill is “an important step toward protecting America’s technological advantage.”
Still, it remains unclear how much support the AI Surveillance Act will gain in both houses of Congress.
Differences of opinion in Washington
The legislation is likely to be the linchpin in a major battle unfolding in Washington between lawmakers who view Nvidia chip exports as a national security risk and officials who say exports help maintain U.S. technological superiority.
The latter camp includes White House AI and cryptocurrency czar David Sachs, who has already criticized the AI Surveillance Act. The Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor recently reposted and went viral on social media claiming that the bill would undermine President Trump’s authority over the export of AI chips.
Mr. Sack and other Trump administration officials who support expanding Nvidia shipments overseas argue that U.S. chip regulations are counterproductive and ceded ground to Chinese competitors.
Rather, they say it would be advantageous for U.S.-designed chips to remain at the center of the world’s AI infrastructure. This is consistent with claims from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and industry lobbyists.
But bipartisan lawmakers on the other side argue that Nvidia’s H200 will enhance China’s AI capabilities and could be used militarily.
Under current U.S. chip regulations, exports or transfers of high-performance AI chips to companies in “countries of concern,” including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia, require specific permission from the Department of Commerce.
These controls cover one of Nvidia’s most powerful AI chips, the H200. But last week, President Trump confirmed his administration would approve processor sales to China on the condition that the U.S. receives 25% of the proceeds.
mounting pushback
Much of the opposition from lawmakers comes from opposition parties. In December, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) criticized President Trump’s approval of exports in the 2000s as evidence of an “ad hoc, transactional approach” to China lacking a coherent strategy.
“U.S. companies must remain the undisputed leader in AI hardware, because our strategic competition with China in AI will ultimately depend on which ecosystems drive adoption and innovation around the world,” he said.
Meanwhile, ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also cited the Justice Department’s assessment and warned that China is seeking such chips for military modernization, weapons design and AI surveillance.
But Trump also faces bipartisan resistance. Prior to H200, the President had also announced that he would allow NVIDIA to resume sales of H20 to China. This is a tip that the president restricted months ago.
At the time, lawmakers responded with additional AI chip proposals, including the GAIN AI Act, introduced in November by a bipartisan group that included Warren and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). The bill would require U.S. companies to prioritize domestic sales of advanced chips before exporting them to China.
Despite President Trump’s shift in chip export policy, Chinese regulators are not allowing Nvidia chips to flow freely back into the country.
Reuters reported last week that Chinese customs authorities were instructed to block imports of H200 chips and warned tech companies not to buy them unless necessary.
