US lawmakers push for tougher China export controls in defence bill amid Nvidia scrutiny

There is growing momentum to pass a slate of major new export control bills targeting China, in the wake of the Democrats’ takeover of the US Congress and scrutiny over American chip giant Nvidia following CEO Jensen Huang’s admission of an extramarital affair.

US intelligence reportedly identified the woman as a Chinese spy, a claim that Beijing has rejected. Leading US politicians have been quick to jump on the news to put pressure on the White House and other lawmakers to approve three bills covering advanced semiconductor chips and chipmaking equipment.

At the centre of their demands is the inclusion of the three bills in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defence authorisation bill.

“There are provisions currently in the Senate version of the NDAA that will restrict chip access to China that I strongly support,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters at a press conference on Monday US time. “I think we’re going to work hard to make sure that those provisions make it into the final version of the NDAA.”

Jeffries is poised to become Speaker of the House once the new Congress is sworn in on January 3.

Negotiations over the NDAA have proceeded for months during the current Republican-led Congress. The Senate’s version of the NDAA already includes all three proposed measures: the Chip Security Act, which would crack down on chip smuggling, the AI Overwatch Act, which would give Congress greater oversight over advanced chip exports, and the Match Act, which ⁠would compel US allies to stop selling chipmaking equipment to China.

Sponsors of all three bills from both US parties have issued statements in recent days calling for NDAA inclusion. Republican Senator Pete Ricketts on Monday cited national security concerns surrounding Nvidia’s relationship with Singapore firm Megaspeed as he called for the Match Act, which he sponsored, to be passed.

Republican Senator Jim Banks and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, the cosponsors of the AI Overwatch Act, also cited the Nvidia scandal in a joint statement on Monday calling for passage of their bill.

“It is time for Congress to take decisive action to pass key bills like the AI Overwatch Act in the NDAA that will cut off the various pathways through which China accesses advanced chips,” they said.

Representative Bill Foster, a Democratic co-sponsor with Republican Bill Huizenga of the Chip Security Act, wrote that “it’s time to get it across the finish line” in an X post Monday that shared the news that Nvidia’s board of directors had launched a probe into Huang’s alleged targeting by a “foreign intelligence effort”.

Huang has long argued against strengthened chip export controls on China, citing the need for US companies to compete in the Chinese market. Nvidia has been one of the strongest voices in Washington lobbying against curbs on Chinese companies’ access to compute that relies on US chips in data centres located outside China, US media outlet The Information reported on Monday.

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Despite bipartisan support for the measures, one of the big uncertainties so far has been the Trump administration’s position. US President Donald Trump has yet to speak out in favour of the bills. However, there are now signs that the administration is moving to engage with the legislative branch on the measures.

On Monday, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Brian Mast revealed that the White House has added provisions to the AI Overwatch Act that would target Chinese access to US chips through overseas data centres.

According to US media outlet Punchbowl News, administration officials have also provided technical feedback on the Match Act, though the engagement remains short of an endorsement.

Beijing has repeatedly denounced the three export control bills as efforts by US lawmakers to weaponise trade and tech issues.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun on Monday described the latest espionage allegations involving Nvidia as unfounded and intended to smear Beijing.