U.S. Drafts Rules Adding Seven States to AI Chip Export Control List

Seven countries — Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Norway and South Africa — face addition to the U.S. chip export control list as early as this month. The Information reported on the 11th, citing two people familiar with the matter, that the Commerce Department is in the final stages of drafting rules to block Chinese AI companies from accessing advanced chips through data centers in third countries.

The move follows the extramarital affair scandal involving Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang. It also coincides with three export-control bills gaining momentum in Congress.

What would the new rules require?

Washington currently requires Commerce Department approval for advanced AI chip exports to a group including Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, China and Russia. The new rules would extend that net to Singapore and Malaysia, which had been outside its scope.

Imports of Nvidia's latest Blackwell-class graphics processing units or higher would need U.S. government approval. Importers would report the end user and intended use to the Commerce Department and submit to continuing oversight.

Why Singapore draws scrutiny

Singapore was the second-largest region by Nvidia's global billed revenue in fiscal 2025. That position demands context: 18% of Nvidia's total revenue was billed through Singapore, yet chips actually brought into the country accounted for just 2% of the total.

Singapore is home to MegaSpeed, where Huang's mistress, Alice Huang, served as an executive. Nvidia also stopped disclosing its Singapore revenue after changing its regional reporting standard during the last fiscal year. The Wall Street Journal suggested the change may be linked to Nvidia cutting off dealings with MegaSpeed International. Nvidia has not explained the reporting change publicly.

What are the three bills?

The Wall Street Journal reported that leading Republican and Democratic lawmakers are working to attach three bills to the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual bill authorizing Defense Department spending and policy; inclusion makes passage all but certain.

• AI Overwatch Act: gives Congress oversight of advanced AI chip exports to China and other adversaries, requiring administration notification before approval and granting Congress power to block exports.
• Chip Security Act: mandates security devices capable of tracking chip locations, to stop advanced U.S.-made semiconductors being smuggled to China via third countries.
• MATCH Act: pressures allies such as Japan to raise their export controls on chipmaking equipment bound for China to U.S. levels.

What does this mean for Korean chipmakers?

The Chip Security Act could mandate location-tracking functions in chips made in Korea. Kim Hyuk-joong, associate research fellow at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, said the latest House revision adds options that somewhat ease the rules, but added: "Korea needs to lobby and make its case until the final rules are set."

Samsung Electronics produces NAND flash memory (storage chips) in Xian, China. SK hynix makes DRAM in Wuxi and NAND flash in Dalian. Some analysts suggest that if a watered-down MATCH Act passes, Chinese chipmakers would struggle to secure advanced equipment while Korean firms could reap indirect benefits. That benefit claim remains an inference, not a modeled result.

How has China responded?

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, asked about U.S. suspicion that Alice Huang belongs to a Chinese intelligence agency, said the United States "should stop fabricating the so-called spy narrative and stop looking for pretexts to impose a technology blockade." She added that China's technological development rests on its own innovation and open cooperation.

China has flatly denied the espionage allegation since the scandal broke, including through state media editorials asking why China is being dragged into Jensen Huang's affair. No U.S. agency has publicly presented evidence for the intelligence claim.