Speaker Johnson says Congress developing consensus on limiting chip exports to China

US House Speaker ​Mike Johnson said on Thursday there ‌was ​a growing consensus in Congress on limiting exports of semiconductor chips to China after a scandal forced out Nvidia ‌CEO Jensen Huang. "The export controls on chips to China has been a big issue around here. I'm in favor of limiting those exports, and I think there's a ‌developing consensus in Congress that is an important position to take. Especially in ‌the light of recent developments, it makes sense," Johnson told reporters.

"So we'll see where that goes. I think it might change a few minds around here." Nvidia said on Thursday that Huang is ⁠stepping ​down, leaving the AI ⁠industry without its biggest champion and clouding the future of the chipmaker he built into an ⁠AI powerhouse.

Pressure mounted on Huang after reports he had an affair with Alice Huang, a ​Chinese businesswoman who US authorities suspect of spying for Beijing. She was an ⁠executive at Megaspeed, a Nvidia cloud partner that Washington suspects of helping China obtain advanced AI chips ⁠restricted ​under US export controls. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast on Thursday told reporters that congressional staff spoke with Nvidia's team on Wednesday night, and he expects ⁠Huang to testify to Congress sometime within the next week. Mast and two other leading ⁠House Republicans asked ⁠Huang last week to brief them behind closed doors about his relationship with Alice Huang.