A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to crack down on the smuggling of American technology, including chips for artificial intelligence.
A handful of members on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are introducing a bill to nearly double the number of export control officers stationed around the world. These are the officials who monitor whether U.S. products that can serve both civilian and military purposes are being diverted into places they’re not meant to go.
The bill comes during a heightened focus on export controls of American-made AI chips. While the Trump administration is relaxing some of those restrictions, many on Capitol Hill want to see a tougher approach regarding U.S. technology going to geopolitical rivals.
AI competition is “a race against time, and we know that China is very proficient at replicating our advances and replicating our technology,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), the bill’s sponsor, told us. “We don’t want those [chips] to be smuggled, we don’t want them to be replicated, we don’t want them to be sold in the black market.”
The details. The bill would mandate that there be at least 20 export control officers globally. There are currently 11 stationed in consulates across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. These officials report to the Bureau of Industry and Security, a part of the Commerce Department.
Kamlager-Dove said the bill is a “no-brainer” and has Republican backing. GOP Reps. Bill Huizenga (Mich.) and Jefferson Shreve (Ind.) are co-sponsors. The top Democrat in the Foreign Affairs panel, Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), also supports the bill.
Tracking chips. The House Select Committee on China has claimed that over 100,000 chips were smuggled into China last year. The panel’s chair, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) have been pushing their colleagues to pass the Chip Security Act, which would require that advanced AI chips have the ability to be tracked.
Nvidia and other U.S. chipmakers have repeatedly rejected any suggestions that they facilitate the smuggling of their products into China or that they circumvent American export controls.
