Several lawmakers are raising concern over President Donald Trump’s recent decision to allow AMD and Nvidia to sell advanced AI semiconductor chips to the People’s Republic of China in exchange for a fee.
U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner of Virginia, who is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Chuck Schumer of New York, Senate Minority Leader; Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee; Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Chris Coons of Delaware, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter to Trump Friday encouraging him to reverse his decision on the deal in the interest of national security.
The senators emphasized that such sales “run counter to U.S. national security interests” and highlighted concerns that the collection of fees may violate U.S. statutes and possibly the Constitution.
The letter cites the president’s August 11, 2025, statement regarding a “negotiated deal” in which a 15 percent fee would be charged to enable the sales. The senators noted that U.S. export laws explicitly prohibit fees “in connection with the submission, processing or consideration of any application for a license or other authorization or other request.”
The senators wrote that U.S. national security relies on protecting America’s advantage in artificial intelligence (AI) computing capability and access to leading-edge hardware. They warned that advanced AI chips sold to China could be used to strengthen its military systems, including hypersonics, communications, surveillance and battlefield decision-making.
“Our national security and military readiness relies upon American innovators inventing and producing the best technology in the world, and in maintaining that qualitative advantage in sensitive domains. The United States has historically been successful in maintaining and building that advantage because of, in part, our ability to deny adversaries access to those technologies. The willingness displayed in this arrangement to ‘negotiate’ away America’s competitive edge that is key to our national security in exchange for what is, in effect, a commission on a sale of AI-enabling technology to our main global competitor, is cause for serious alarm,” the senators wrote.
The letter also requests detailed information from the administration by August 22 regarding the negotiation, legality, collection and intended use of the proposed 15 percent fee, as well as whether similar arrangements will be considered for other companies.
The senators concluded: “We again urge your administration to quickly reverse course and abandon this reckless plan to trade away U.S. technology leadership.”
The letter follows an earlier missive to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on July 28, urging against the sales.
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Rebecca Barnabi
