WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Congress members are calling on President Donald Trump's administration to consider restricting the export of artificial intelligence chips made by Nvidia, alleging Chinese AI firm DeepSeek has relied on them.
Republican John Moolenaar and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, who lead the House Select Committee on China, asked for the move as part of a Commerce and State Department-led review ordered by President Donald Trump to scrutinize the U.S. export control system in light of "developments involving strategic adversaries."
"We ask that as part of this review, you consider the potential national security benefits of placing an export control on Nvidia’s H20 and chips of similar sophistication," they wrote in a letter dated Wednesday and addressed to National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. They released the letter on Thursday.
In the letter, they allege that a sophisticated AI model recently released by DeepSeek made "extensive use" of Nvidia’s H20 chip, which is currently outside the scope of U.S. export controls.
DeepSeek and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nvidia said in a statement that its products "comply with all requirements set by the government" and that the company "is ready to work with the Administration as it pursues its own approach to AI."
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by David Gregorio)
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