U.S. House Panel Advances Bill to Curb AI Chip Exports to China
The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would give Congress new powers to oversee exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips, despite public opposition from White House AI adviser David Sacks and a wave of criticism on social media.
Congressional Oversight on AI Chip Licences
The “AI Overwatch Act,” introduced in December by Representative Brian Mast of Florida, aims to give both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee 30 days to review and, if necessary, block licences for exporting advanced AI chips to China and other nations deemed adversarial. The move followed President Donald Trump’s authorisation of shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, which sparked national security concerns.
The revised version of the bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, also includes a ban on Nvidia’s high-performance Blackwell processors. During Wednesday’s vote, forty-two committee members supported the bill, two opposed it, and one voted “present.”
Mast defended the measure as essential to safeguarding U.S. security interests. “If we were just talking about war games on Xbox, then Jensen Huang could sell as many chips as he wants,” he said, referring to Nvidia’s CEO. “But this is not about kids playing Halo. This is about the future of military warfare.”
Political Pushback and Online Campaigns
The bill’s progress comes despite criticism from political figures and activists. Sacks reposted a message from the X account “Wall Street Mav,” which accused opponents of Trump of driving the legislation to undermine his authority and America First agenda. He replied, “Correct,” amplifying the claim.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has publicly warned against exporting advanced AI chips to China, also entered the debate. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he argued, “It would be a big mistake to ship these chips. It’s a bit like selling nuclear weapons to North Korea.”
Meanwhile, conservative activist Laura Loomer denounced the bill online, calling it “pro-China sabotage disguised as oversight.”
National Security at the Forefront
Ahead of the vote, committee leaders dismissed the online criticism and reaffirmed their focus on national defence. “There are special interest groups out there right now with millions of dollars funded by the very people who will profit off the sale of these chips,” said Republican Representative Michael McCaul of Texas. “They are waging a social media campaign war against this bill. Shame on them.”
The AI Overwatch Act still requires approval from the full House and Senate before it can become law. Nvidia, the White House, and Sacks declined to comment on the committee’s decision.
with inputs from Reuters