Chip Industry Group Opposes Export Control Bill's 'Complex Requirements'
The Semiconductor Industry Association urged Congress Sept. 5 to reject proposed legislation that it says would impose an “unprecedented expansion” of export controls on advanced AI computing chips.
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 House and Senate leaders that was first reported by Punchbowl News, SIA President and CEO John Neuffer said the Guaranteeing Access and Innovation for National Artificial Intelligence Act, or Gain AI Act, would introduce “complex requirements that would be impossible to comply with as a practical matter and would have a significant adverse impact on the U.S. semiconductor industry.” It would "irreparably harm global demand for U.S. chips" and undermine "the goal of achieving U.S. leadership in AI," he added.
The Gain AI Act would require U.S. manufacturers of advanced AI chips to make their products available to American firms before selling them to China and other “countries of concern.” The measure says it seeks to address a situation in which the chips are being sold to entities in U.S. arms embargoed countries while U.S. firms face long waits to acquire them.
But Neuffer said the legislation would allow “any U.S. person to indefinitely halt the export of covered chips or related product sales, even by signaling an interest in procurement, and prevent the routine intracompany transfers of such technologies.” The measure also would “compel license applicants to publish confidential business information related to pricing, customers, and other normal business operations, raising significant antitrust and anticompetitive issues for the industry," he wrote.
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., introduced the Gain AI Act in the Senate, which added the legislation to its version of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) without debate Sept. 4 (see 2509050056). The leaders of the House Select Committee on China have proposed the chip language as an amendment to the House NDAA.