A group of companies that specialize in tracking international shipments of sensitive technologies is backing a Capitol Hill bill that would require America\u2019s most powerful AI chips to incorporate stronger security mechanisms aimed at preventing the chips from reaching China and other adversaries. <\/p>\n
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The letter, signed by six companies, says the Chip Security Act (CSA) would increase American chip companies\u2019 competitiveness and close key loopholes in the U.S. export control regime. The move clashes with claims from semiconductor lobbying groups that the requirements would constrain America\u2019s booming chip industry. <\/p>\n
Sent to congressional leadership Thursday morning and seen by NBC News, the dispatch instead argues that more robust security verification would assure chip customers and manufacturers that they are abiding by sensitive restrictions on chip sales. The companies argue that the boosted confidence will \u201clead to increased sales, faster export approvals, larger transactions, greater access to new markets, and more expansive chip deals.\u201d <\/p>\n
Despite U.S. export control laws banning sales of advanced AI chips to certain countries, including China, loopholes in current requirements have allowed billions of dollars\u2019 worth of America\u2019s best AI chips to be sold to entities in third-party countries that can then forward them to China. In just one case in March, the Justice Department charged three people<\/a> with conspiring to forward $2.5 billion of AI chips to China.<\/p>\n The CSA aims to address those loopholes, mandating that chip exporters better track where advanced chips are sent, via either bespoke location-verification hardware or software that can run on existing hardware. That, bill proponents claim, would ensure that sensitive chips could be sold to countries like Malaysia<\/a> or Indonesia<\/a> without fear of further transfer to China.<\/p>\n The bill has been percolating in Washington for several months as a variety of interest groups duke it out over its impact on America\u2019s AI lead. Proponents and China hawks view the bill as a clear-cut way to address a critical national security failure, while certain industry groups have worried that it would hamper American sales abroad \u2014 which the companies vehemently contest in Thursday\u2019s letter. <\/p>\n The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved the CSA in a 42-0 vote in late March, sending it to the wider House, where it remains under review. The Senate\u2019s companion legislation remains in the first stages of consideration.<\/p>\n The U.S. has enacted export controls to prevent its most coveted chips from being sent to adversarial countries. Experts say that because chips perform the advanced computations required for frontier AI systems, cutting off access to the chips is crucial to prevent geopolitical rivals from using AI systems for military or economic purposes. <\/p>\n China\u2019s military has embraced AI<\/a>, and Chinese AI companies like DeepSeek and Tencent have developed general AI systems that lag American companies\u2019 AI capabilities by a matter of months<\/a>. Chinese AI companies have often claimed<\/a> that their lack of chips is the primary barrier to developing better systems \u2014 a sign that America\u2019s export control system has worked to some extent.<\/p>\n Chip smuggling or diversion could eliminate the bottleneck, which many experts say is a critical national security bulwark. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the Select Committee on China, said at a hearing in April, \u201cChinese companies are buying what they legally can under existing export control regimes and stealing what they cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n Other lawmakers in Washington have been reluctant to allow wider sales of American chips abroad<\/a> given concerns about China-owned subsidiaries\u2019 diverting chips to China. <\/p>\n Some semiconductor companies have opposed the bill, saying it would unduly restrict their ability to sell chips abroad. The Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents leading chip companies like Nvidia and AMD, strongly opposes it<\/a>, arguing that rushing to legislate \u201ccomplex, costly, and unproven security features risks undermining global trust in American semiconductor technologies.\u201d Nvidia announced in December<\/a> that it has developed technology that could fulfill some of the CSA\u2019s requirements, as Reuters first reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n GeoComply, one of the companies that signed Thursday\u2019s letter, said better location verification would be a straightforward win for American security and industry. GeoComply works with companies like Amazon Prime Video, FanDuel and the BBC to ensure their services are sold or offered only in approved geographies.<\/p>\n \u201cChip smuggling is actively eroding the export controls by putting advanced AI chips in the hands of our strategic competitors,\u201d said Kip Levin, GeoComply\u2019s CEO. Location-verification technology \u201cto confirm that chips remain with authorized users, in authorized locations, gives legitimate buyers a way to prove compliance and gives policymakers the confidence to approve larger deals and broader exports.\u201d<\/p>\n GeoComply and the other companies that signed Thursday\u2019s letter, including Multibeam and Fortaegis, would be likely to benefit from added security-verification requirements, though the letter claims the added specifications are \u201ctechnically feasible\u201d and \u201cstrategically necessary.\u201d <\/p>\n