The so-called "GAIN AI Act"—a legislative proposal that would have required semiconductor companies to prioritize satisfying domestic demand for high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) chips before exporting them to "countries of concern," such as China—is reportedly not included in the upcoming annual U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Bloomberg reported this development on December 3rd (local time), suggesting that U.S. chip giant NVIDIA is on the cusp of a major lobbying victory.
U.S. lawmakers had been pushing to incorporate the GAIN AI Act as part of the NDAA, which is slated for public release on December 5th. While the situation could still change unexpectedly, Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the bill, confirmed the GAIN AI Act's current exclusion from the NDAA.
The potential inclusion of the GAIN AI Act in the NDAA and its subsequent passage into law had drawn significant attention from both Washington and the AI industry, as it would have codified legal restrictions on AI chip exports.
NVIDIA has devoted substantial corporate resources to a lobbying effort aimed at thwarting the bill. The company argued that such export restrictions would be counterproductive, potentially weakening the U.S.'s lead in the AI industry and, contrary to the hopes of China hawks, might actually accelerate China's self-sufficiency in AI technology.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang personally visited Washington on December 3rd, meeting with key figures, including President Donald Trump and major members of the U.S. Congress.
Outside House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office, Huang told reporters he was there to discuss AI. He asserted that the proposed bill was "more harmful to the United States" than the AI semiconductor export control policy (dubbed the "AI Diffusion Framework") announced late in the previous Joe Biden administration.
According to CNBC and other outlets, Huang confirmed his meeting with President Trump to reporters that day, stating that the issue of advanced AI semiconductor export controls was discussed. Earlier, the online news outlet Axios had reported that the White House was pressuring Congress to prevent the GAIN AI Act from being included in the NDAA.
However, the call for controls on semiconductor exports to China remains strong. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, the developer of the AI chatbot 'Claude,' has publicly argued that NVIDIA's advanced chips should not be sold to China. Speaking at the New York Times' DealBook Summit, he contended that democratic nations must regulate semiconductor exports to ensure they achieve AI advancement first.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that China hawks in the U.S. Congress are preparing the "SAFE (Secure and Feasible Export) Act," which aims to legally codify the existing AI chip export regulations against China.
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