The U.S. Effort To Keep AI Out Of China's Hands

It comes as no surprise China has been a major focus point of the second Trump administration. One of the key reasons for this focus is the increasing national security concerns over technology. In particular, the smuggling of AI chips, which China intends to use in developing advanced AI systems for military purposes and surveillance.

This is not a newly emerging concern. In October 2022, the Biden Administration issued its first export controls hoping to cut off China from the advanced chips. Since then, restrictions have expanded to include more countries and less-advanced technologies.

Despite these attempts to restrict China's access, backdoor networks and third parties have taken advantage of loopholes to move advanced chips into China. In 2024 alone, a median estimate of 140,000 advanced AI chips were smuggled to China. The rise in smuggling is one reason for the push of the Chip Security Act introduced in May.