The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 26 voted 42-0 to advance bipartisan legislation led by U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) to prevent the illicit smuggling of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to foreign adversaries.
The Chip Security Act, H.R. 3447, which Rep. Huizenga sponsored in May 2025 alongside seven original cosponsors, including U.S. Reps. John Moolenaar (R-MI), Darin LaHood (R-IL), and Bill Foster (D-IL), now heads to the full House for action.
“The Chip Security Act enhances protections on AI chip exports by scaling up best security practices and encouraging innovative technologies,” Rep. Huizenga said. “This bill directly supports the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan recommendations and benefits from both the administration’s technical assistance and industry feedback.”
If enacted, H.R. 3447 would require the U.S. Department of Commerce to establish chip security mechanisms for advanced chips America exports abroad, helping the United States ensure its most sensitive technology goes where it’s supposed to, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmakers.
“If we’re going to export advanced AI chips, we need confidence that they don’t end up in the hands of the Chinese military. We’re continuously seeing examples of Chinese espionage, theft, and diversion over and over again. We can’t allow this to keep happening,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL). “This is about winning the AI Arms Race. For us to give China any capability, inroad, or advantage in this is nonsensical.”
Implementing chip security mechanisms would improve compliance with U.S. export control laws, assist allies and partners with guarding computing hardware, and enhance protections from bad actors looking to access, divert, or tamper with advanced integrated circuits and computing hardware.
Implementation also could help with the detection of smuggling or exploitation of advanced integrated circuits and computing hardware, thereby allowing for increased flexibility in export controls and opening the door for more international partners to receive streamlined and larger shipments of advanced computing hardware, according to the text of the bill.
“America has the best semiconductors in the world, and we must defend our advantage over China, which is actively working to break the law and smuggle American chips,” said Rep. Moolenaar. “The Chip Security Act will make it harder to steal from us and protect American jobs and industry. Thank you to Chairman Mast, Congressman Huizenga, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee for advancing this legislation.”