Moolenaar Moves to Close Loopholes in China’s Access to Advanced Chips

House Select Committee on China Chair James Moolenaar, R-Mich., launched two new congressional efforts Tuesday to close gaps in China’s access to advanced semiconductors and the equipment required to manufacture them. 

In a bill dubbed the Semiconductor Controls Adjusted to Limit Exports (SCALE) Act, Moolenaar proposed new semiconductor innovation safeguards by requiring the U.S. government to regularly publish clear metrics showing how advanced China’s artificial intelligence (AI) hardware is, and setting a moving limit on what chips the United States can export.  

Under that moving limit, American companies could only sell chips that are up to 110% more powerful than what adversaries – such as China – can already produce themselves at scale. 

Moolenaar said the proposal aims to secure America’s AI chip dominance and keep advanced semiconductors out of China’s hands. “By grounding semiconductor export controls in objective metrics, we can ensure a level playing field for American business, while protecting national security as China races to catch up to us,” he said in a statement.   

The representative also sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, requesting that he echo moves made by the first Trump administration to urge the Dutch government to block sales of certain semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China.  

In his letter, Moolenaar pointed to recent reports that Dutch toolmaker ASML plans to make shipments of advanced deep-ultraviolet lithography systems to China by the end of this year.  

Specifically, he alleged that ASML is exploiting a loophole in export controls by reviving an older chipmaking tool to sell to Chinese firms. 

“President [Donald] Trump’s first administration rightly identified lithography exports as crucial to winning the AI and broader technology competition with China,” Moolenaar wrote. “By successfully pressing the Netherlands to halt ASML’s … lithography shipments to the PRC, it secured what remains, by a wide margin, the single most important chokepoint in the U.S.–China technology competition.” 

Moolenaar said that following the Dutch government’s actions, “China cannot produce sub-7nm chips at scale, setting China back at least seven years behind the leading edge.” 

Sub-7nm chips are used in high-performance computing, advanced AI, and mobile devices, enabling higher processing speeds and lower power consumption, according to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. 

Without action to address the sale of equipment, Moolenaar said, “These shipments will materially accelerate the PRC’s production of AI chips at the chipmaking facilities central to that effort.” 

Moolenaar has been a leading voice in Congress on preventing advanced chips from being used by adversaries. Recently, he warned that China may be using advanced Nvidia chips for its military AI operations and co-led bipartisan legislation aimed at preventing federal agencies from using AI with China-made components.