A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced the SAFE CHIPS Act, a bill that would lock in current export controls on advanced AI chips for 30 months and bar the Trump administration from easing them for China, Russia, Iran or North Korea.
The legislation, filed by Republican Senator Pete Ricketts and Democratic Senator Chris Coons, would require the U.S. Commerce Department to deny licenses for U.S. AI chips that exceed the performance levels already allowed for those countries.
The bill comes as the administration and industry debate how to apply existing curbs. Earlier this year, U.S. export rules and licensing discussions led to the introduction of a modified, lower-capability version of Nvidia’s H20 AI chips intended for Chinese customers. Under the proposal, any change to chip export rules after the 30-month freeze would have to be briefed to Congress at least one month before taking effect.
For U.S. chipmakers such as Nvidia and AMD, the measure would extend uncertainty around access to the Chinese data-center market but provide clearer boundaries for compliance planning. Supporters argue that restricting China’s access to top-end U.S. AI chips is necessary to limit their use in military systems and mass surveillance.
The bill also highlights rare pushback from Republicans against further loosening of tech export rules. It follows earlier criticism in Congress of Commerce decisions to relax curbs on Nvidia’s H20 exports and of a separate plan to delay some restrictions on blacklisted Chinese firms’ subsidiaries.