US Needs to be 'Extra Vigilant' on Chip Security Amid Saudi Deal, Says Rep. Garbarino

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), chair of the Homeland Security Committee, said that with deals for chip sales to Saudi Arabia the US needs to be "extra vigilant" to make sure China doesn't get access to the advanced technology.

The US has approved sales of tens of thousands of advanced artificial intelligence semiconductors to the United Arab Emirates’ G42 and regional rival Humain of Saudi Arabia, a major boost for both Gulf nations’ efforts to become formidable players in the technology.

Each company is slated to receive chips with computing power equivalent to 35,000 GB300 processors from Nvidia Corp., the firm’s most advanced offering, according to the Commerce Department. The deal is contingent on both companies meeting “rigorous security and reporting requirements,” the agency said on Wednesday, confirming an earlier report from Bloomberg News.

The approvals mark a win not just for Middle Eastern AI ambitions, but also for the US firms helping the region meet its lofty technology goals. Nvidia and competitors like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. have faced restrictions on shipments of their best hardware to Saudi Arabia and the UAE since 2023, due in part to concerns over the Gulf nations’ ties to China, to which Washington has effectively banned the sale of advanced AI semiconductors.

hite House officials are urging members of Congress to reject a measure that would limit Nvidia Corp.’s ability to sell AI chips to China and other adversary nations, according to people familiar with the matter, dimming prospects for legislation opposed by the world’s most valuable company.

The so-called GAIN AI Act would create a system that requires chipmakers to give Americans first dibs on AI chips that are controlled for export to China and other arms-embargoed countries — an “America first” framing designed to appeal to the Trump administration. That would effectively bar Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. from selling their best products to the Asian country, making GAIN AI something of a bipartisan congressional pushback to President Donald Trump’s suggestions that he is open to such shipments.

The White House’s stance is a victory for Nvidia, which has publicly lobbied against the legislation, insisting there are no US customers facing a shortage of its products. If GAIN AI doesn’t wind up passing, that would also mark a loss for some American hyperscalers including Microsoft Corp., which supported a measure that would preserve their access to hardware over Chinese rivals, while also clearing an easier path to ship advanced AI chips to US-owned data centers in places like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Killing GAIN AI would not, however, mean the end of China chip curb efforts on Capitol Hill, where there is broad bipartisan support for limiting Beijing’s AI ambitions. Lawmakers have separately begun working on a measure that would codify existing limits on AI chip sales to the Asian country. That simpler legislation, which has not previously been reported, would require the Commerce Department, which oversees approvals of restricted technology shipments, to deny all applications for sales to China of any AI chips that are more powerful than what the US currently allows, effective for 30 months.

The fate of both bills remains undecided. Lawmakers are still considering whether to include GAIN AI in an annual defense bill that’s under discussion, while also determining when to introduce the second bill, which is called the Secure and Feasible Exports, or SAFE, Act of 2025. All told, the situation makes clear the significant appetite in Congress to play a bigger role in the wonky world of semiconductor export controls, a national security policy area that’s risen to the forefront of the tech and trade war between Washington and Beijing.

Nvidia, which has lobbied relentlessly for greater access to the world’s biggest market for semiconductors, is not out of the woods yet.

A spokesperson for Republican Senator Jim Banks, who sponsored GAIN AI, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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