Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
House China Select Committee leaders are calling on the Commerce Department to include "clear redlines" targeted at Beijing in a forthcoming AI export control framework, per a letter shared exclusively with Axios.
Why it matters: Commerce is gearing up to release new rules that would create a global licensing regime for advanced chips and closed-source, dual-use AI models.
- But China has been able to circumvent previous restrictions by using foreign subsidiaries or cloud services.
What they're saying: "You should impose clear redlines for countries that may want access to U.S. technology," Chair John Moolenaar and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote in the letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
- "For example, any foreign country that houses a People's Liberation Army (PLA) base (or has comparable agreements to regularly host PLA assets and personnel or PRC intelligence capabilities) should not be allowed to receive advanced U.S. GPUs, or any country that hosts Huawei cloud computing infrastructure should be restricted from accessing the model weights of closed-weight dual-use AI models."
- The lawmakers said the Bureau of Industry and Security should also routinely update these regulations, not just once a year, to keep up with the Chinese government's circumvention tactics.
Zoom in: The U.S. government recently approved the export of advanced AI chips to the UAE as part of a Microsoft-G42 deal.
- Lawmakers had previously raised concerns the deal could provide a back door for China to access U.S. technology.
- Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi said they continue to have serious concerns about the deal, but agree that demand for U.S. technology "is an opportunity to pry both companies and countries out of Beijing's orbit" that should be taken.
Zoom out: Commerce last month hit China with sweeping export controls aimed at preventing Beijing from developing weapons using advanced AI.
