US House backs bill to regulate remote access to export-controlled chips

Chinese companies may be unable to import the best US GPUs, but they have found a workaround: renting access to that hardware via cloud services. Now, the US House of Representatives is moving to bring that loophole under the export-control law.

The House of Representatives passed the Remote Access Security Act on Monday by an overwhelming 369-22 bipartisan vote. The bill extends the US Export Control Reform Act to treat certain forms of remote access to export-controlled items - including high-end GPUs and other AI chips - as subject to US export-control law.

"Our export controls are only as strong as the weakest link, and right now, the CCP has a real tool to sidestep these prohibitions," said bill sponsor Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY). 

It's not like that's a hypothetical scenario, either: Chinese companies faced with export controls on high-end Nvidia GPUs and other chips have been acquiring access to ...