Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who leads the House Selection Committee on the Communist Party of China, is challenging the Trump administration’s choice to permit NVIDIA to resume sales of specific artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China.
In a letter addressed to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday, lawmakers expressed their concerns regarding NVIDIA’s H20 chip. They suggested that this move could enhance China’s AI capabilities.
Moolenaar wrote, “The H20, an effective and powerful AI reasoning chip, exceeds the technological skills of China’s homegrown efforts and will likely lead to significant advancements in Chinese AI development.”
NVIDIA announced on Monday that they have applied to sell H20 chips again after receiving assurances that the Trump administration would approve the license.
Earlier this year, NVIDIA disclosed that the U.S. government would impose new licensing rules that restrict the sale of chips to China. This shift came shortly after NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang had a meeting with President Trump.
Lutnick suggested that the easing of restrictions might be part of a broader rare earth trade deal with China, noting that Beijing would only receive NVIDIA’s “fourth-best” chip.
However, Moolenaar contended that the H20 chips are significantly more advanced than what China currently has, and he pointed out that the Ministry of Commerce proposed these export controls as only “slight technical improvements” over China’s existing technology.
“The Trump administration has repeatedly emphasized that it’s crucial for the U.S. to ensure that Chinese tech companies do not dominate the AI infrastructure globally,” he remarked. “At the same time, we must prevent the adoption of Chinese AI models that are developed using U.S. technology.”
Moolenaar further cautioning that if the H20 sale is approved, China could acquire the computing power necessary to develop robust AI models similar to what DeepSeek did with its R1, which are available to users free of charge. “This mirrors China’s approach in various industries—it’s a strategic move to gain market presence and establish global standards,” he concluded.
