The Senate passed legislation requiring advanced artificial intelligence chipmakers Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to guarantee that US firms get priority access to their goods before China, which represents a setback for the industry’s attempts to prevent the bill.
In a vote late Thursday, the bipartisan proposal was comfortably adopted. Senate Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana, is the primary co-sponsor, saying it is intended to increase US competitiveness in advanced sectors and reduce exports to China and other foreign adversaries.
The law has drawn criticism from US tech executives and organizations who claim it would stifle innovation and limit competition.
According to a statement from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the lead Democratic co-sponsor, the Senate took action today to ensure that American consumers, particularly startups and small companies, are not made to wait in line behind China’s tech giants when buying the latest AI processors.
Following a standoff of one month, senators finally adopted the provision as part of their annual military policy bill. It is unclear, however, how it will become legislation. Legislators in both houses must now negotiate a final package that might not contain the export-controls clause, which was stripped out of the House’s September version.
The Senate move comes after a Trump administration agreement to loosen export controls to China this summer with Nvidia and AMD. Congress will likely continue to face pressure from opponents to abandon the proposal. Nvidia stated last month that the US is its biggest market and that the law, while its good intentions, solves an issue that doesn’t exist. On Thursday, a corporate representative declined to comment.
President of the AI policy foundation Americans for Responsible Innovation, Brad Carson, stated in a statement that the measure is a “major win for US economic competitiveness and national security.”
