Senators Raise Export Control Concerns About New Nvidia Facility in China
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., a member of the committee, told Nvidia May 28 that they’re concerned the U.S. AI chipmaker’s planned research facility in Shanghai “risks violating the spirit, if not the written word, of U.S. export control regulations.”
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In a letter to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the senators cited news reports suggesting the facility could help China develop and gain access to AI hardware and software covered by U.S. export restrictions. The letter asks Huang to provide more information about the facility by June 20, including the specific activities that will take place there and the safeguards Nvidia plans to implement to protect its technology from theft or the Chinese government's demands for access.
In a statement, an Nvidia spokesperson downplayed the significance of the new facility. “Nvidia is simply leasing a new space for existing employees, who need the room in the post-Covid return to work,” the spokesperson said. “The scope of work will remain unchanged."