GoKawiilA bipartisan group of U.S. Senators is urging the government to take immediate action to halt the sale and export of Nvidia GPUs and server systems to China and southeast Asian countries, in the wake of the recent revelations around the Super Micro smuggling scandal.
U.S. Senators Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have penned a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disputing Nvidia's claims that it was unaware of GPUs and servers being diverted to China— part of an opereration to dodge sanctions on the lucrative technology.
Nvidia continues to deny any awareness of or involvement in the scheme and claims to be in strict compliance with American export regulations.
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This represents a major roadblock for Nvidia and its front-and-center CEO, both of which have made major efforts in recent months to re-open the Chinese market for Nvidia GPUs. This now sets the U.S. Senate and Nvidia in opposition; where the White House comes down on this issue will be at the whim of Secretary Lutnick and the ever-mercurial President.
To the letter
“We urge all necessary and appropriate actions, including the immediate pausing, suspension, or other reconsideration of all active export licenses covering advanced Nvidia AI chips and server systems destined for . . . China as well as for intermediaries in south-east Asia, including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore," the letter reads, as reported by the Financial Times.
This letter is particularly notable for its bipartisanship. Senator Warren is a one-time presidential hopeful and one of the leading progressives within the Democratic Party. She's also the leading Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. In contrast, her fellow letter signer, Jim Banks, is a staunch Republican, having voted against stimulus checks during the Coronavirus pandemic; he has previously called climate change a left-wing hoax.
Despite their differences, the joint letter drives right at the heart of recent efforts by Nvidia and its CEO to restart GPU shipments to China. This comes after most of 2025 was spent with them effectively banned while America and China warred over global trade and used access to GPUs and critical minerals as cudgels with which to beat one another.
After months of wrangling, the U.S. finally approved export licenses for Nvidia's last-generation H200 Grace Hopper GPU systems in December, with only the Chinese authorities then needed to approve the imports. That had started to happen, with Huang stating just over a week ago that the first orders from Chinese companies had started to appear.
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