The News
Republican and Democratic leaders are coalescing behind a new crackdown on advanced chip exports to China following the Nvidia scandal that could become law by the end of the year.
In the House, both Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries favor strengthening chip export controls following revelations that Nvidia’s now former CEO, Jensen Huang, had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy. That’s raised national security concerns about the gargantuan chip manufacturer, which sold $4 billion in chips to Singapore company Megaspeed, which is suspected of diverting that technology to China and under investigation by the Justice Department.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Semafor that there’s a “high probability” that Congress imposes more restrictions on chip exports to China. Three measures were included in the Senate’s version of must-pass defense policy legislation, known as the NDAA, however both Thune and Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., acknowledged there is no deal yet to include them in the final version of the bill currently under negotiation between both chambers.
“I give it a better than even chance,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Semafor of the possibility of strengthening export controls, which are handled by the Commerce Department.
