OpenAI tells Congress it backs chip export control bills

OpenAI has privately told congressional offices that it supports three bills meant to make it harder for China to get advanced semiconductors and the tools used to make them, two people familiar with the matter told Politico. Punchbowl first reported the news. The bills are the Chip Security Act, the AI Overwatch Act and the MATCH Act. Bloomberg reported that the company spent months deciding whether to back the package and confirmed its support to lawmakers this week.politico.com+1

This is a change for OpenAI. The company had toned down its push for tighter export controls on Capitol Hill this year as its financial ties to Nvidia deepened, Politico reported. In August, Nvidia agreed to spend up to $105 billion backing a large Ohio data center that OpenAI will lease, according to Politico. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.politico.com+1

A scandal shifts the debate

The move comes as lawmakers try to attach the measures to the annual defense authorization bill. Nvidia has lobbied against the Chip Security Act and the AI Overwatch Act, and chipmaking equipment makers have lobbied on the MATCH Act. Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia's CEO on Thursday morning. That followed reports that he'd had affairs, including one with a woman suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset who allegedly helped send Nvidia chips to China in violation of U.S. export rules. One person familiar with the matter told Politico, "Nvidia's scandal, I think, has probably loosened them up a bit."politico.com

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday that a "developing consensus" is forming in Congress around limiting chip exports to China, Reuters reported. Anthropic has publicly backed all three bills, while OpenAI had been "warming up" to them after holding back at first, according to Semafor.semafor.com+1

What the bills would do

The Chip Security Act would require advanced chips to have location-verification mechanisms to fight smuggling. The MATCH Act would tighten curbs on chipmaking equipment and press allies to match U.S. restrictions. The AI Overwatch Act would give Congress a chance to review licenses for sales of advanced AI chips. All three are in the Senate's defense bill management package after the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced them earlier this year, according to Reuters.reuters.com+1

OpenAI could gain from tighter controls on foreign sales of Nvidia chips. Supply has not kept up with demand, and U.S. AI labs have faced shortages.politico.com

No deal yet

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker both said there is no deal yet to include the measures in the final bill, which the two chambers are still negotiating. Lobbyists say the Chip Security Act is the most likely of the three to make it into the year-end package. One analyst told CNBC that the scandal has made it "politically harder for negotiators to strip chip provisions out of this year's NDAA."cnbc.com+2