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US lawmakers demand suspension of Nvidia AI chip export licenses to China and Southeast Asia
Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 10:56 AM
US lawmakers are pressuring the Department of Commerce to revoke Nvidia's export licenses for advanced AI chips destined for China and several Southeast Asian nations, citing national security concerns regarding the diversion of sensitive technology.
Context
On March 24, 2026, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers and senators demanded that the Commerce Department immediately suspend Nvidia’s licenses to export advanced AI chips to China and Southeast Asia. This escalation follows a high-profile federal indictment of Super Micro Computer employees for allegedly smuggling Nvidia GPUs into China using dummy servers and falsified serial numbers. Congressional hawks, led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast, argue that current safeguards are insufficient to prevent the diversion of dual-use technology to the Chinese military.
This demand directly challenges the Trump administration’s 2025 "Pax Silica" policy, which transitioned the review of chips like the H200 from a "presumption of denial" to a case-by-case basis. While Nvidia has previously secured orders for over 300,000 H20 chips for the Chinese market, lawmakers are now pushing the AI OVERWATCH Act to grant Congress veto power over these specific export licenses. For investors, this signals a potential reversal of the recent regulatory thawing that had allowed Nvidia and AMD to resume high-volume shipments to the region.
Sources (11)
Department of Commerce Revises License Review Policy ...
Federal Register
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Revision to License Review Policy for Advanced Computing Commodities
U.S. Export Controls and China: Advanced Semiconductors | Congress.gov | Library of CongressUS in talks with Nvidia about AI chip sales to China - Raimondo | ReutersCongress takes on Nvidia, White House in push for chip export limitsUS must suspend Nvidia AI chip exports to China, senators sayAfter tech company cofounder caught smuggling chips to China, US ...Jensen Huang once said there was 'no evidence' Nvidia chips were getting diverted to China. The scandal at Super Micro suggests otherwise. | Morningstar
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