Key Points
- A top Republican, Rep. John Moolenaar, is strongly criticizing the Trump administration for allowing Nvidia to sell H20 AI chips to China again.
- Moolenaar warns the chips pose a national security threat and could advance China’s military and AI development.
- The decision reverses a ban that the administration had imposed in April. This is a rare public disagreement among Republican lawmakers.
- Moolenaar is demanding a briefing from the Commerce Department for more information on the deal.
The head of the House committee on China is blasting the Trump administration’s decision to allow Nvidia to resume selling its H20 AI chips to China. Republican Representative John Moolenaar sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, warning that the move threatens to boost Beijing’s military and AI capabilities. He called the original ban on the chips “the right call.”
Moolenaar’s sharp criticism is an unusual public break for a Republican with a Trump administration policy, highlighting how deeply concerned some in Washington are about China’s tech ambitions. The decision reversed an export ban imposed in April. Following Moolenaar’s letter, Nvidia’s stock price turned negative.
In his letter, Moolenaar wrote, “We can’t let the (Chinese Communist Party) use American chips to train AI models that will power its military, censor its people, and undercut American innovation.”
Nvidia defended the move, with a spokesperson stating that “America wins when the world builds on U.S. technology.” The Commerce Department has previously said the decision was part of broader negotiations with China involving rare earths.
Moolenaar stressed that the H20 chip “significantly outperforms anything Chinese chipmakers like Huawei can currently produce” and is already being used to build supercomputers. He demanded that the Commerce Department provide a briefing by August 8 on how it will evaluate export licenses, the number of chips to be sent, and the identities of the buyers.
