US lawmaker urges rolling restrictions on AI chip exports to curb China's military edge

Washington DC [US], August 30 : Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on China sent a letter encouraging U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to implement a rolling technical threshold (RTT) strategy for AI chip exports to China, designed to offer a slight edge over the most sophisticated chips that China can produce domestically at scale, as stated in the Select Committee on the CCP (SCCCP) release.

Moreover, this strategy aims to restrict China's total AI computing power to 10 per cent of that of the U.S. to maintain long-term U.S. leadership in AI. The RTT strategy follows the Chairman's disapproval of the renewed sales of Nvidia's H20 equivalent chips to China last month. Chips such as the H20 currently surpass any that are mass-produced by Chinese manufacturers. According to the Select Committee's April 2025 DeepSeek report, these chips played a crucial role in enabling the PRC's leading reasoning model, R1, as mentioned in the SCCCP's release.

"We have repeatedly seen the Chinese Communist Party proliferate its technology and weapons to enable Russia, Iran, and proxy groups to attack American partners and allies. Iran, in particular, will be eager to take advantage of PRC-enabled AI capabilities," writes Moolenaar in the letter.

"A version of R1 that DeepSeek has fine-tuned for the PLA using American chips is now a feasible option on the menu of Chinese military capabilities for sale. For example, AI-enabled drone swarms sold to Iran with sophisticated autonomous navigation, cooperative networking, electronic warfare capabilities, and target discrimination could threaten American or Israeli units in the region in ways that current systems may struggle to counter", as quoted by SCCCP's release.

Chairman Moolenaar's RTT framework aims to maintain China's reliance on U.S. hardware and software while restricting its capabilities in advanced AI, according to a statement from the SCCCP.

Previously, John Moolenaar (R-MI), the Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (SCCCP), delivered a speech at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy focusing on an important issue: safeguarding the technologies that will influence the future. "Semiconductors, AI, and quantum computing are not merely economic resources; they are fundamental to national security, diplomacy, and global influence," emphasised Moolenaar, as reported by the SCCCP.

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