New Export Controls Demand Congressional Vote on Every Advanced AI Chip Sent to China

If you’ve ever felt like government regulation slows things down, wait until you hear about the new approval process proposed for high-tech semiconductors. The No Advanced Chips for the CCP Act of 2025 is setting up what looks like the toughest export control regime yet for advanced AI chips destined for China.

The Dual-Approval Gauntlet for Tech Exports

This bill targets "advanced AI semiconductors"—the powerful chips that fuel everything from large language models to military systems. Section 3 defines these chips using specific, high-end performance metrics, like having a total processing performance of 2,400 or more, or a combined bandwidth exceeding 5,100 Gigabytes per second (GBs). Essentially, if it’s a cutting-edge chip, it’s covered.

Under Section 2, exporting one of these chips to the People's Republic of China (which includes Hong Kong and Macau) requires a two-step approval process. First, the Secretary of Commerce must sign off, but only after coordinating with the Secretaries of Defense, Energy, State, and the Director of National Intelligence. They have to determine that the export is in the U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. This interagency review is designed to catch any potential misuse, especially for military purposes or human rights abuses.

But here’s the kicker: even after the entire executive branch says yes, the shipment still can't happen until Congress passes a specific joint resolution approving that exact transaction. Think of it like this: normally, if a U.S. chip maker wants to sell $10 million in advanced chips to a Chinese tech firm, they deal with the Commerce Department. Under this Act, they’d need the entire U.S. government—the Pentagon, the State Department, the Intelligence Community, and both houses of Congress—to pass a specific law for that one order. That’s a massive regulatory hurdle for U.S. tech companies.

Who Feels the Pinch (and Who Gets a Pass)

For U.S. semiconductor manufacturers, this bill introduces significant uncertainty. While the goal is to protect U.S. technological superiority, the practical reality is that requiring a literal act of Congress for every major export order could freeze sales to one of the world's largest markets. If you’re an engineer or a factory worker whose job relies on those high-margin international sales, this could mean a significant slowdown in business, even if the policy is sound from a national security perspective.

On the flip side, the bill does include a few common-sense exceptions (Section 2). Exports strictly for humanitarian purposes are waived, as are chips necessary for running U.S. embassies or consulates in China. Also, if a chip is already legally in China and just needs to be sent back for repair or replacement, that’s exempt from the new rules. This shows an effort to target only new, high-risk transfers, not routine operations.

The Three-Year Time Bomb

Perhaps the most unusual detail is tucked away in Section 4: the Sunset provision. This entire Act—the dual approval process, the definitions, the interagency reviews—is set to expire completely after three years. Unless Congress actively passes a new law to renew it, these strict export controls vanish. For businesses, this creates a short-term regulatory environment. It means that while trade is severely restricted now, there’s a built-in deadline for Congress to reassess the policy's effectiveness and impact on the U.S. economy. It’s a temporary, high-stakes experiment in technology control.