Senator Asks BIS to Consider Limiting US Role in Open-Source Tech
Senate Banking Committee member Mark Warner, D-Va., urged the Bureau of Industry and Security on Sept. 30 to consider placing export controls on open-source technologies that could benefit China.
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In a letter to BIS head Jeffrey Kessler, Warner said he’s concerned that China increasingly views those technologies, including the RISC-V semiconductor architecture, as a way to bypass U.S. and multilateral controls. While RISC-V began as an American academic project, he said several Chinese firms, including Huawei and Phytium -- which are both on BIS’ Entity List -- now hold board seats at RISC-V’s Switzerland-based governing foundation.
Warner said a similar “dynamic” exists at AI framework organizations, such as the PyTorch Foundation and the Unified Acceleration Foundation, as well as at the Ultra Ethernet Consortium, a supercomputing connectivity standard organization. All those groups "have embraced leading [Chinese] firms as members (and in some cases occupying governance roles)."
Open-source ecosystems often benefit the U.S., Warner added, and he encouraged BIS to maintain its policy that the Export Administration Regulations don't apply to most open-source technologies. But he said BIS should use export controls in situations that may enable technological advances by China. He also suggested that BIS develop guidance for U.S. firms' participation in open-source organizations.
While BIS didn’t respond to a request for comment, a geopolitical risk management consultant said in April that the U.S. was likely to soon try to place export controls on open-source technologies (see 2504140038). He warned that extensive controls would hurt U.S. technological competitiveness in the long run.