Senators move to lock in AI chip controls on China for 2.5 years

A rare bipartisan coalition in the US Senate is trying to keep President Donald Trump from easing export rules on advanced AI chips for Beijing, unveiling a bill that would freeze current restrictions for the next 30 months.

The SAFE CHIPS Act, introduced Thursday by Republican Pete Ricketts and Democrat Chris Coons, would require the Commerce Department to deny licence requests for buyers in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea seeking more advanced US-made AI chips than they can access today. For two and a half years, no upgrade in chip access, and after that, any proposed change must be sent to Congress 30 days before taking effect.

“Denying Beijing access to [the best US] AI chips is essential to our national security,” Ricketts said.

The bill is backed by Senators Dave McCormick, Jeanne Shaheen and Andy Kim, a cross-party effort notable for the fact that Trump’s own Republican allies are helping drive it. The move lands as the White House considers allowing Nvidia to sell its next-gen H200 chips to China, something hawks fear could strengthen the country’s military and surveillance capabilities.

Tensions over tech trade have been escalating. China has tightened control over rare earth exports, prompting Washington to impose, and later partially roll back, limits on Nvidia’s H20 chip sales. Trump also delayed a separate export restriction targeting subsidiaries of blacklisted Chinese firms and vowed to scrap a Biden-era global AI export rule.

Supporters of the SAFE CHIPS Act want to prevent any further softening without Congressional oversight, arguing the issue is too strategically important to leave solely to the executive branch.