Bill Would Block Sale of Nvidia H200, Other Advanced AI Chips to China
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., led 13 other House Democrats in introducing a bill Dec. 18 that would block the sale of advanced AI chips to China and other U.S. arms embargoed countries.
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Among the chips that would be affected is Nvidia’s H200, which President Donald Trump recently decided to allow China to buy (see 2512080059). Meeks said Trump’s move, which has drawn criticism from many congressional Democrats and a few Republicans (see 2512090050), will harm U.S. national security by “supercharging” China’s “AI capabilities and, in turn, its military and malign influence capabilities.”
While the Restoring Export and Security Trade Restrictions for Integrated Circuit Technologies Act, or Restrict Act, aims to curb chip exports to “countries of concern,” it also seeks to strengthen U.S. competitiveness in AI “by creating a secure, license-free export pathway for trusted American companies operating data centers abroad,” a Meeks press release says. The legislation calls for the Bureau of Industry and Security to publish the physical security, cybersecurity, remote access security and other requirements that U.S. firms must meet to conduct license-free transfers of chips to their facilities in friendly foreign countries.
The bill's co-sponsors include House Select Committee on China ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, which oversees BIS.
Meeks unveiled the legislation two weeks after Sens. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Chris Coons, D-Del., introduced a bill that Coons said would block the sale of H200s and comparable chips to China (see 2512040052). The Ricketts-Coons proposal, named the Secure and Feasible Exports of Chips Act, or Safe Chips Act, was referred to the Senate Banking Committee.
In announcing his decision Dec. 8, Trump said that H200 shipments to China will take place under conditions that protect national security. He also said his policy will support American jobs, strengthen U.S. manufacturing and provide a portion of the sales revenue to the U.S. government.