China Select Committee Leaders Push More Curbs on Chip Flows to China
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the Trump administration Jan. 30 to tighten export controls on computing chips that could enable China’s development of artificial intelligence.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
In a letter to National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Reps. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the committee's chairman and ranking member, respectively, said that Chinese startup DeepSeek extensively used chips made by U.S.-based Nvidia to develop its advanced new AI model.
“This demonstrates what the Select Committee has long argued: frequently updating export controls is imperative to ensure [China] will not exploit regulatory gaps and loopholes to advance their AI ambitions,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter asks the U.S. to consider placing new export controls on Nvidia’s "H20 and chips of similar sophistication while cracking down on chips designed specifically for AI inference, not just training." It also recommends that the administration consider restricting exports of AI-enabling chips not only to China but also to third countries, such as Singapore, that "pose a high risk of diversion" to China.
"For example, Singapore represented 22% of Nvidia’s revenue in its most recent quarterly statement, despite the company itself revealing most of these shipments ultimately went to users outside of Singapore," the lawmakers wrote. "Countries like Singapore should be subject to strict licensing requirements absent a willingness to crack down on [China's] transshipment through their territory."
The letter echoes comments Moolenaar made in a statement two days earlier (see 2501280052). It came 10 days after President Donald Trump told the Commerce and State departments to review the U.S. export control system and suggest changes “in light of developments involving strategic adversaries or geopolitical rivals” (see 2501210023).
In an emailed Jan. 30 statement, an Nvidia spokesperson said, "Our products comply with all requirements set by the government. Nvidia is ready to work with the [Trump] administration as it pursues its own approach to AI. The thresholds set by the Biden administration are based on performance levels reached five years ago and achieved by leading gaming and workstation products.”