House China hawks called for the National Security Advisor to review the potential national security benefits of placing export controls on semiconductor chips critical to the AI infrastructure of People's Republic of China (PRC) company, DeepSeek. As part of the review, the lawmakers also asked to strengthen controls on shipments through third countries that pose a high risk of diversion to the PRC.
Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party wrote National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz,
This comes following President Trump's memorandum to key agencies calling for, “the Secretary of State and Commerce to review the U.S. export control system in light of developments involving strategic adversaries.”
The lawmakers further requested that Mr. Waltz consider updating Federal Acquisition Regulations to prohibit the federal government from acquiring AI systems based on PRC models such as DeepSeek, except for appropriate intelligence and research purposes.
They also asked Mr. Waltz consider using E.O. 13873 [Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain] to restrict PRC AI systems from being used in U.S. critical infrastructure. The letter notes that DeepSeek's privacy policy explicitly envisions data flows to the PRC.
In the letter, the lawmakers write, “DeepSeek made extensive use of Nvidia’s H800 chip, the first chip that Nvidia designed specifically to fall outside U.S. export controls. This demonstrates what the Select Committee has long argued: frequently updating export controls is imperative to ensure the PRC will not exploit regulatory gaps and loopholes to advance their AI ambitions.
Any review conducted by the NSC on the effectiveness of export controls should address delayed updates to our export controls."
"To protect American leadership in AI, the U.S. must swiftly strengthen export controls on the technology behind DeepSeek’s model, and also use the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) to block Deepseek’s operations in the United States, Mr. Moolenaar said.
"Like any claims from China, Americans should be skeptical of DeepSeek’s self-reported development costs. In this case, the rapid growth and CCP control behind the company raises serious national security concerns and demands immediate action."
Kenton Thibaut at The Atlantic Council notes that China still possesses large numbers of pre-restriction chips, delaying any immediate impact from US export controls. However, these controls may significantly affect China’s frontier-model development when existing data centers require upgrades or once Nvidia’s next-generation Blackwell architecture takes hold in the United States.
Thibaut contends that though DeepSeek’s breakthrough does not undermine US export controls outright, it highlights the shortcomings of a narrow “compute-focused” national security narrative. Such an approach risks stifling broader governance discussions, including ethical, environmental, and socioeconomic implications of AI development. Arguments favoring unrestrained compute expansion to achieve artificial general intelligence—on the premise of outcompeting China—further solidify this gap.
The United States needs clearer policies on AI governance that address design, funding, and oversight at home, coupled with transparent national security objectives around AI technologies. By delineating which capabilities, applications, and technologies warrant regulation, it can foster a balanced dialogue on risks, encourage diverse expertise, and enable flexible governance strategies across multiple domains. No single solution will resolve AI policy challenges; instead, ongoing, collaborative engagement is essential to meet emerging capabilities and sustain strategic adaptability.
Reuters reports the Italy's data protection authority, the Garante, said on Thursday it had ordered DeepSeek to block its chatbot in the country after the Chinese artificial intelligence startup failed to address the regulator's concerns over its privacy policy. Data regulators in Ireland and France are also questioning DeepSeek over its chatbot's privacy policy.
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