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

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, June 26, 2026, Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) and Chairman John Moolenaar (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.

“We can’t let our adversaries — especially China — dodge our export controls by simply renting what they can’t buy,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer. “This bill gives American companies the legal clarity they need to do the right thing and report when bad actors are trying to use our own cloud infrastructure to threaten our national security.”

“In the AI race, China will buy what it can and steal the rest, which is why it is actively trying to get backdoor access to U.S. data centers and train its AI models via cloud computing,” said Chairman Moolenaar. “U.S. cloud platforms have a role to play in stopping China’s AI buildup, which fuels its military and surveillance ambitions. This bipartisan commonsense legislation will require them to protect their products and American national security by simply verifying the identity of their users.”

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