A group of House Republicans pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to quickly nail down the administration\u2019s policy on artificial intelligence (AI) chip exports Thursday after rescinding the Biden administration\u2019s framework.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eight GOP lawmakers, led by Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.), urged the administration to provide a \u201cstable exporting structure\u201d to replace former President Biden\u2019s AI diffusion rule<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis rule would have helped China win the AI race, and replacing this rule quickly will provide American innovators a stable environment to compete and win,\u201d they wrote in Thursday\u2019s letter, first reported by Semafor. <\/p>\n The Trump administration rescinded the AI diffusion rule<\/a> in May. Unveiled in the final days of Biden\u2019s presidency, the rule placed caps on chip sales to most countries around the world. Only 18 U.S. allies and partners were exempted from the restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The diffusion rule faced sharp pushback from the semiconductor industry, with major players such as Nvidia slamming it as “misguided.\u201d<\/p>\n The Commerce Department pulled the rule shortly before it was set to go into effect, arguing it would \u201chave stifled American innovation and saddled companies with burdensome new regulatory requirements.\u201d <\/p>\n Alford and his GOP colleagues agreed with the administration\u2019s assessment, while pushing for a new framework with know-your-customer and security controls. <\/p>\n \u201cWe can only win the AI race with Communist China if we are wisely limiting our foreign adversary\u2019s opportunities to develop frontier AI and enabling American companies to compete quickly in the global marketplace,\u201d they added. \u201cBoth prongs are important and the balance between them are crucial.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAmerica is winning the AI race, but the competition has been hard fought and will continue to be,\u201d the lawmakers continued. \u201cSteps must be taken quickly since investments happening now will create the world\u2019s tech ecosystem for decades to come.\u201d <\/p>\n The letter comes after the Trump administration walked back curbs on some Nvidia chip sales to China last week. Nvidia announced last Monday that it was filing applications to sell its H20 chips after receiving assurances from the U.S. government that its licenses would be granted. <\/p>\n The chipmaker revealed earlier this year that the administration was implementing new licensing requirements that would limit its ability to sell the chips in China. <\/p>\n