Reps Gottheimer, Moolenaar Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Close Loophole in Advanced AI Chip Export Controls

Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-5) and Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI-2) of the Select Committee on China introduced the “Cloud Security Act,” legislation to close a critical loophole in U.S. export controls on advanced artificial intelligence chips. The bill recognizes a simple but dangerous workaround: adversaries like China don’t need to buy or own a restricted AI chip if they can simply rent access to one through an American cloud computing provider. U.S. export controls restrict the sale of advanced AI chips—the powerful semiconductors needed to train cutting-edge AI models—to adversaries of concern. But those same restrictions don’t account for cloud computing, where a customer can rent time on those chips through providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud, accessing the same computing power without ever taking ownership of the hardware. The bill addresses this gap by amending current law to allow cloud compute providers to voluntarily report suspected misuse of their services by customers associated with U.S. adversaries to the Department of Commerce. Currently, companies are generally prohibited from disclosing customer content or records to the government—creating legal risk for any company that wants to flag suspicious behavior, even if they believe a foreign adversary is exploiting their platform.