Republican Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, has urged the Trump administration to enforce strict export controls and block advanced logic chips from reaching sanctioned Chinese firms. The push comes amid bipartisan concern over the administration's decision to allow conditional sales of Nvidia and AMD chips to China, and its refusal to enforce certain Biden-era regulations. Lawmakers are advocating for statutory measures like the SAFE Chips Act and a dynamic "rolling technical threshold" to preserve America's technological edge.
Chip export control enforcement
- ▪Republican Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, sent a letter on August 6, 2026, urging the U.S. Commerce Department to block advanced logic chips from reaching untrusted Chinese firms.
- ▪The Trump administration announced it would not enforce a Biden-era chip regulation referenced in the manufacturer rule, creating uncertainty about the enforcement of the broader measure.
- ▪Representative John Moolenaar urged the U.S. Commerce Department to enforce a January 2025 Biden-era rule requiring chip manufacturers to scrutinize orders of advanced chips from potential front companies.
Rolling technical threshold proposal
- ▪Representative John Moolenaar proposed a "rolling technical threshold" that automatically adjusts U.S. chip export limits based on China's domestic semiconductor manufacturing capabilities.
- ▪The proposed rolling technical threshold aims to restrict China's aggregate artificial intelligence computing power to no more than 10% of total United States AI compute capacity.
SAFE Chips Act
- ▪U.S. Senator Jim Banks and Democratic Senator Andy Kim urged stricter oversight of overseas contract manufacturers like TSMC to prevent them from fabricating advanced chips for sanctioned Chinese firms.
- ▪U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts introduced the bipartisan SAFE Chips Act to freeze current limits on advanced chip exports to China and prevent future administrations from loosening them unilaterally.
Trump administration chip approvals
- ▪The Trump administration approved limited sales of Nvidia and AMD chips, including the H200 and MI308 models, to Chinese buyers under specific volume caps and revenue-sharing conditions.
- ▪The Trump administration's conditional approvals of Nvidia and AMD chip sales to China required U.S. chipmakers to collect a 15% revenue share from Chinese sales.
Huawei-Sophgo-TSMC circumvention case
- ▪The January 2025 chip manufacturer rule was created to close export loopholes after Chinese chip designer Sophgo had chips manufactured at TSMC that were later found inside sanctioned Huawei AI processors.
- ▪Representative John Moolenaar warned that if chip factories like TSMC determine they are exempt from the manufacturer rule, it would dramatically increase the risk of another Sophgo-like export control failure.
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