The US House of Representatives has passed a bill aimed at tightening restrictions on foreign access to advanced American AI chips via cloud computing services, reports Caixin. The bill was passed with a focus on preventing Chinese entities from circumventing export controls.
The legislation, known as the Remote Access Security Act, was approved on January 12 with strong bipartisan support, passing 369-22 after clearing the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a unanimous 51-0 vote. The bill redefines what constitutes a violation of export control rules to include remote access to sensitive technologies via the internet or cloud-based platforms.
Currently, US export controls focus on the physical shipment or sale of restricted hardware and software. This bill would broaden those controls to include access to such items regardless of the user’s physical location, subjecting them to licensing requirements.